Kingdom Hearts Noir
by khveteran013
Summary: The darkness is closer, the baddies are badder, and the action is definitely mature. This is KH reimagined. Current Arc: Traverse Town-KH1. After the destruction of his home world, Sora finds himself in Traverse Town-Another world filled with people who have lost their homes as well. With allies and enemies alike rising from all sides, Sora finds himself asking: who can I trust?
1. 1 Prologue arc: Destiny part one

**Good Evening, It is I, KHVeteran.**

**I wish I could have posted my foreword and synopsis without violating the rules. Oh well. Do not hope for a BBSNoir, I have tried, it is impossible. It ends up being too similar to the game.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the people who own the stuff in this fic. The only thing I own is my imagination. However, if time travel were possible, I'd buy HUGE stocks in these people before they got so popular.**

~Chapter 1: Destiny Begins~

Sora awoke on the beach. He blinked, it wasn't like him to take a nap in such a strange place, let alone in the middle of the day. And the dream...he didn't remember much now that he was awake, but he did know something big and dark tried to eat him. And what had caused him to fall asleep in the first place? He couldn't remember, one moment he was waiting for his friends, Riku and Kairi, to appear so they could continue building their raft, and the-

"Ah, shit!" Sora cursed as he bolted straight up into a sitting position, the raft! With the sun high in the air, no doubt they had already started without him. He had to get to the cove before they-

A crunch of sand signaled the approach of Wakka and his gang, "Feelin' lucky, Sora?" was Wakka's wingman, Tidus's only warning before he brought a bat down on the location where Sora had been moments before. Crouching down, Sora fingered the boken he always had stuffed in the back of his belt.

"You had some nerve," he continued, "Sleeping so casually on OUR turf!"

"Calm down, Tidus," Wakka ordered from his seated posistion near the docks, Lulu and Sephie hanging on him like poupu from a tree, "Sora was just leaving...weren't you, Sora?"

_The hell I was_, Sora thought, just as ready to go as Tidus was, but he had also proised his mother that he wouldn't get in anymore fights. If he blew it here, Riku and Kairi would have to finish the preparations for the raft themselves. Underneath the bandage on his cheek, his scars ached for revenge, but he had to hold it in, save the rage he felt for another time. But it was so tempting to give in.

They glared daggers at each other for a while, but Sora was saved from having to make a decision by Kairi, who apparently had been watching the proceedings for the last few minutes, "Butt out, Wakka!" she confronted him from behind Sora, "This island belongs to the town, not you. We have as much right to be on the beach as you!"

"What this, Sora?" Lulu smirked, "Is your girlfriend going to fight your fights for you?"

"Says the woman hiding behind Wakka!" Sora countered, "You just gonna keep letting your gang say whatever they want, Wakka? Your control's slipping!"

"What was that?" Wakka growled, "You sayin' I can't handle my crew? Maybe you should put a handle on your mouth, 'fore my boy here does it for ya."

"Enough with the testosterone, guys," came a quiet but commanding voice from the shack. Riku walked up beside Sora, and gently placed the log he was carrying on his shoulder on the ground next to him.

Everything but the waves became still as everyone considered the silver-haired youth. Not only was he good in a fight, but he was also the most dangerous element to the entire arguement. He might be the inhertitor of the largest estate in the town, but he sure as hell didn't act it, much to the chagrin of his parents.

Wearing common clothing, growing his hair long, hanging out with the black sheep of the town, and even going so far as to refuse any predetermined fate presented to him by his parents (which included being engaged to the mayor's daughter, Kairi), he had been threatened of becoming disowned more than once, but everyone knew for a fact they couldn't, as Riku's mother could not bear any more children even if she had wanted to.

"You wanna fight, fight me," Riku drew his boken, "Since Sora can't go breaking his promises. At least he's true to his word," these last words directed at Tidus, who had been Riku's friend at one point.

A wind blew, stirring his yellow shirt and baggy jeans. His green eyes traveled across the battlefield, from Tidus to Wakka and "his" girls.

"Fine, we don't want another embarrasing moment," Wakka spat, his eyes full of fear, envy, and hate, "Four to one and you still beat us, but our time is coming. Stay out of my sight, and I'll consider leaving you alone."

"Fine," Riku bent to pick up the log with one arm, "We'll be at the cove if you change your mind."

The three friends retrated to the opposite side of the island, where their mostly finished raft rested in the shallows of the beach there.

Sora promtly sat down next their ongoing project, spiky brown hair swaying in the breeze, "Thanks, Riku...if you and Kairi hadn't showed up at that exact moment, I wasn't sure how that could have turned out."

Kairi punched him the shoulder, "What were you thinking? Are you trying to get killed, Sora? You've just got out of the hospital because of your rash attitude!"

Sora looked up into the redhead's angular face, her ocean blue eyes shimmering in anger.

"Relax, Kairi," Riku dopped the log next to the raft, "From what I heard, Sora was almost dragged into that fight by no fault of his own."

"But...," She argued, crossing her arms over her white tank top, which managed to conceal her budding breasts quite well, despite the deep drop in the collar.

"Drop it," Riku said with a flash of his green eyes, "But Tidus did raise a good point, Sora. Why were you taking a nap on the beach, of all places."

"I was waiting for you," Sora rubbed his shoulder, which hurt like the dickens where Kairi had struck it, "I guess I just didn't get as much sleep as I thought I did, and my sleepiness caught up to me."

"Showing up early's a good thing," Riku pointed out as he took out a knife and began to whittle at the log, "But not at the expense of trouble. Show up later tomorrow, and don't bother trying to tie your boat up at the docks, either. Wakka'll no doubt be ready for another fight with me out of the picture. We all made him look bad today, he won't go forgetting that easy."

Sora stood up, brushing sand off his oversized shorts, "Yeah, I got it."

Kairi handed him a list, "What's this?" Sora asked, fearing he already knew the answer.

"We need this stuff to complete the raft," Kairi said with a simmering anger in her voice, "Riku's busy making sure the logs are up to snuff, so it's up to you to find rigging and a sail."

"Rigging? For a raft?" Sora asked incredulously.

"Gotta tie the sail up with something," Riku commented without looking up from his work.

"Fine," Sora sighed, "I'll see what I can do without provoking Wakka and his lackeys."

"While you're both doing that, I'm going to see what kind of foodstuff we can procure for the trip," Kairi said, "Which means I won't be around until around sunset."

"We can take care of ourselves," Sora pounded his red-clad chest with his fist.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Kairi sighed, "Sora, just...be careful, okay?"

"We'll be fine," Riku spoke up again, "Go do what you have to."

Kairi nodded and left, leaving the boys to do the tasks they had been given.

Miraculously, they had all survived the day. Wakka and his crew left early today, so the trio had a jump start on the sunset.

"You think there's other worlds out there?" Sora wondered, not realizing he had, once again, thought out loud.

"I dunno," Riku shrugged, "I always assumed that we have always meant to be here, together, on these islands. If there are other worlds out there, why'd we end up on this one?"

"What do you mean?" Sora asked, thinking that he started the conversation, he might as well continue it.

"Well, if there are other worlds out there, then that means that's just that many more worlds that we could have just as easily ended up in. Can't we have just have easily ended up somewhere else?"

"I dunno," Sora sighed, swing his legs over the poupu tree so he as laying with his back against it.

"That's why we gotta go out there and find out," The silver haired boy crossed his arms, "We can't change anything sitting on our asses all day."

"But," Kairi began timidly, "We can always come back, can't we?"

"Yeah," Sora agreed, "Of course!"

"Well big day tomorrow, with the raft finished, and the food packed up and everything," Riku walked off, "Be sure to get home early, Sora. Looks like we'll be heading out earlier than we thought."

"Yeah."

Riku walked off, leaving Sora and Kairi to watch him row to shore.

"Riku's changed," Kairi said all of the sudden.

"Huh?" Sora asked in surprise, "What do you mean?"

"Well...," came the timid reply.

_What's up with Kairi?_ Sora's eyebrows knitted in concen, _She's never this softspoken, especially about Riku or me._

Then Kairi said something that took Sora completely by surprise again, "Sora, why don't we just take the raft and go? Just the two of us!"

"W-what?" Sora was completely bewildered now.

An odd look and a blush crossed Kairi's face simultaneously as she giggled, "Just kidding!"

"What's gotten into you?" Sora asked, deciding it could be one of those girl things again, "You're the one who's saying a bunch of wierd stuff."

Kairi was silent for a beat before she muttered, "Maybe..."

"I'm taking off, too," Kairi got up, "Tomorrow, when we set sail...it'll be the most exciting moment of our lives."

"Don't go jinxing our adventure, now," Sora smiled, "There's bunch of things more exciting than setting out on a journey."

Kairi smiled as well, "Yeah, I guess you're right, Sora. 'Bye."

As Sora watched her boat sink into the distance, a thought occured to him. Getting up and walking down where the base of the large tree on this side of the island intersected with a sheer stone wall, carved and sanded from the existing cliff, there was an entrance to a cave. Doubling over so he could fit, he stood up and followed the cavern to his Secret Place.

It was a location that he had only shared with his best friends, it was their playground, their secret hideout, where they had scribbled on the walls for fun. In the rearmost location of the cave was a wooden door set into the wall. It possessed no knob or keyhole, but it was hinged and locked into place. He and Riku had tried to break into that thing so many times. Even metal rods didn't leave dents in its smooth, polished appearance. They'd pretty much given up trying to open it, but every now and then, they try again with a different idea. Last time, Riku tried prying apart the hinges, but they were just as solid and unyeilding as the rest of the door.

But it wasn't the door Sora had come for, but a very specific drawing, which he found afer clearing away some mushrooms. It was a drawing he and Kairi had done eight years ago, on the anniversary night of Kairi's sudden appearance to Destiny Islands. It was a drawing of themselves, but Sora was the one who had drawn Kairi and vice versa. The simplistic profiles were facing each other, smiling.

Sora found a rock to draw with nearby, and sat down to work. As he did, he recalled the legend of the poupu fruit. If someone possessed a poupu fruit and offered it freely to someone else, and those two people shared it, their destiny's would become intertwined together forever. They would be destined to be a part of each other's lives, no matter what.

Sora leaned back, his drawing finished. to his head, he had added a hand offering the star shaped fruit to Kairi._ I wish I could just tell her how I feel, but her situation's already complicated far enough, with the rejection of Riku's engagement and all...the mayor was furious when he found out Kairi felt the same way..._

For the second time that day, the crunch of sand was his only warning that someone was nearby, "Who's there?" he challenged.

Next to the door was...someone dressed up in a brown robe, the hood drawn to hide the wearer's face. The stranger was silent for a moment before saying, "I have come to see the door to this world before it becomes eclipsed by darkness."

Sora's mouth twitched, "You're from another world?"

"There is much to learn, you understand little," the stranger remarked as if Sora were one of those annoying bugs that you only notice when you hear the loud whine in your ear.

Face burning, Sora challenged the cloaked man, "Well, I'll go out and learned what's out there! What do you think of that?"

"A meaningless effort," the man scoffed softly, "One who knows nothing can't understand anything. You will never learn what lies beyond this door."

_The door?_ Sora thought, looking at it for a moment, Is that what this is about?

Shifting his gaze back to the stranger, Sora found that he was gone.

_Where did he go?_ Sora thought surprised, but then there was a large rumbling noise. Sora looked up through a small hole in the roof to see the sky had darkened considerably with clouds.

"A storm?" Sora wondered, no one was expecting one, and then something else hit him, "The raft! I have to bring it ashore, or it'll wash away!"

Panicking, Sora ran for the cave mouth, not stopping to ponder on the keyhole that had suddenly appeared on the door. As soon as he scrambled from under the roots of the tree, Sora discovered something that drove all thought of the raft from his mind.

Up in the sky, high above the small inslet where Sora was sitting not but an hour before on the poupu tree, was a dark orb. Sora didn't know what else to call it. There was something foreboding about it. Something that spoke of his deepest fears, his darkest secrets, and the end of all things to come.

But as fixated on the orb as he was, he still detected movement on the inslet out of the corner of his eye. Standing there, looking up into the deep recesses of the monstrous circlet of dark energies, was Riku.

"Riku, what are you doing?" Sora didn't know what was going on, but he knew that it was wrong, he felt it in his gut, "Get away from-!"Something cut him off, attacking him. Holding his injured and bleeding cheek again in as many days, Sora stared at the thing that attacked him, and its allies rising up from the ground from the darkness, like shadows.

Sora didn't remember much from his dream, but he remembered these things. The small, jet-black, and cat-like creature that made sniffing motions towards him, with its oversized antennae, moon-colored eyes staring in all directions, blindly. These creatures...if they were here than did that mean he was still dreaming? He tried to summon his sword, like he did when he first obtained it, and...nothing happened. Then did that mean that it wasn't a dream? Sora gowled and pulled out his boken.

He knew he made a promise, but it wasn't like he had any choice now. Sora tried to swing at the creatures, but to no avail. All he got for his trouble was scratches and frustration. Hating to run from a fight, but knowing he had, again no other choice, Sora tried to run. Fearing he would be overtaken, Sora looked back only to find that the creatures, whatever they were, could not keep up, even with their oversized feet flailing and bending in impossible directions.

Finally catching up to Riku, Sora tried another attempt at talking to him, but Sora was interrupted again, this time by Riku, "The door...has opened, Sora."

"What do you mean, Riku? Can't you feel that this whole thing is wrong? We got to get somewhere else!"

Turning towards Sora, he could tell Riku was, of all things, estatic, "We are going somewhere else, Sora! Don't you get it? With the door opening, we'll be able to go see other worlds!"

"The door," Sora echoed quietly, suddenly he felt as though all these years of curiousity were finally coming to bite him on the ass.

"Once we step through," Riku spoke, staring up into the abyss with shining eyes, "We may never see home or our loved ones again, but this is our only chance, and we can't let fear stop us!"

"Riku...," Sora began, but couldn't finish because his throat had tightened with fear.

"Sora," Riku said, holding out his hand in invitation, and Sora had another flash from his dream. Riku was in this pose, exactly like this. The hand, the chilling smile, and there was a tsunami coming to crash down on both of them. Sora was running, calling out to Riku, to rescue him, but the wave blew him away.

Riku's next words snapped him out of his reverie, "Don't be afraid of the darkness."

With that, Sora tried to run to him. The dream will not come true, Sora promised himself, but was stopped short by a portal of darkness opening under his feet. But Sora wouldn't give up, not now! He tried to fight against the current, but the waves of darkness creeping up his body like the tentacles of an octupus. If Riku noticed the grasping tendrils, he didn't show it, but continued to hold out his hand, with a distant smile on his face.

But with a final wave of darkness, Sora was swallowed up by the darkness.

Fighting back tears and the feeling of failure, Sora continued to fight against the darkness, but found that he had nothing to fight. He was simply floating in the dark abyss, unable to see, hear, smell, or even touch anything. For the first time in a long time, Sora was afraid, and that angered him. There was no need to be scared of this darkness, he would find his way out, and-

A bright light shone through the murky blackness, blinding Sora, and suddenly he could hear the sound of waves, feel the ground as he fell on his ass, and taste the bittersweet scent of darkness. When he could see again, Riku was gone. The tears that Sora was holding in flowed bitterly down his face. He had failed to protect his friend.

He then realized there was something heavy in his hand, looking down he saw..._a key?_

It was huge, just large enough to be a weapon...recalling his dream, Sora remembered a weapon of the same length and weight.

_It wasn't a dream was it?_ Sora thought, and the voice of a young boy once more filled his thoughts: _"Keyblade...Keyblade..."_

"But that would mean...," Sora recalled in his...dream that Kairi was in it as well. He was falling into the ocean, staring up at Kairi as she faded away.

"No!" Sora exclaimed and tried to stand up, but one of the creatures came up suddenly and attacked him. Parrying by reflex alone, the creature dissolved into a dark, smoke-like substance as his new weapon went through it.

_I can fight back_, Sora thought as he got up to face more of the monsters, _I CAN FIGHT BACK!_

Sora flew through the creatures in a blind rage, the murky darkness that was the creatures only legacy only made it harder to see. With no sense of direction, Sora took a step forward, and felt his stomach fall out from under him as he fell from the bridge into the ocean separating the inslet and the island. Standing up in the shallow water, Sora swung wildly three times before realizing that the shadowy beings wouldn't, or couldn't follow him into the water.

_A weakness_, Sora smirked, _I can exploit that_. Running along the shoreline, Sora heded for the piers, hoping, praying that Kairi was not on the island. But as he stared at the moored boats, he felt his heart fall as he realized that they were all here. Avoiding the creatures with ease, only swinging his blade when a monster got in his way, Sora ran all over the island, searching for Kairi, but couldn't find her anywhere.

Finally, Sora found himself standing at the entrance of the Secret Place, but found that there was now a huge set of double doors blocking his path. He recognized this specific pair of doors, too, from his dream, even the smallest details of the stained glass windows. Gritting his teeth, he reached up to open the door, but heard the telltale sound of the creatures appearing out of the shadows. Jumping into the pool of water nerby that was fed by a small watefall spring, Sora readied his Keyblade for a battle against the lineup of enemies before him, but didn't expect the sharp sting of pain from behind.

Gritting his teeth, he saw that the creatures could stand in the pool with their heads barely above the water level. _That's why they didn't try to follow me into the ocean_, Sora realized,_ they must need air to survive, and I'm guessing that they can't swim._

The number of enemies was almost too much to bear, but he soon stood once more before the door, scratched and bloody. He took a moment to knock back a Potion, feeling the restorative drink knit his skin back together and wash away his fatigue. Wiping his mouth and thowing the empty bottle to the ground somewhere to his left, he boldly opened the doors and strode into the darkness of the cavern.

Once he could stand up, Sora felt something like alarm in his heart, growing stronger with each step he took. Finally back in the room where this had all started, Sora saw Kairi standing, almost slumping, in front of the door.

"Kairi?" Sora called, concerned.

The young woman turned slowly to his voice, her eyes dull and glazed over, "Sora...?" She said, raising her hand in an detatched manner.

Suddenly the door flung open, and a wave of darkness, much stronger than the one that kept him from reaching Riku, flung Kairi into him and then he was blown away himself.

Waking up from unconsciousness, Sora found that he was on the edge of a cliff that opened up into nothingness.

Crying out, Sora scrambled away from the brink, only to find that he was sitting on what was the left of the beach. _There's nothing left_, a small, calm voice in his mind came piercing through his panicked state,_ there's nothing left of my world but this shard_. Sora had never felt so small in his life.

There was a quake, Sora turned, thinking that another chunk had been sucked away into the orb of darkness, but saw that it was something much, much worse. The giant creature that had been summoned from is shadow was here. The size of a two-story building, the monster possessed a physique that would make gold medal athletes jealous, two wings, disportionate to the massive size of the creature were flared up, like winds of a demented imp attached to a minotaur. Twin moonlit eyes glared at Sora through strands of dark matter that formed its hair, which shifted and floated in an ethereal manner. Sora could see the orb floating behind the creature through the heart-shaped hole that stared in its chest and ended right above where its nether regions should have been.

Sora summoned his new wepon and got ready for the grueling fight to come. Sure enough, the monster cocked its fist and swung at Sora-who dodged such an obvious, and time-consuming strike-which had opened up a pool of swirling darkness that would no doubt summon more of its smaller buddies. In his dream, Sora had swung at the creatures humongous hands and barely defeated it. This time he charged up the thing's arm to its head and let loose.

With a mighty scream, the creature reared back, making Sora loose his balance.

The small moons glared at Sora and growled though the strands of hair that wrapped around the lower half of its face. Reaching up to the abyss, the creature grabbed some of it and released the energy into the air to float down to Sora.

Sora didn't know what the thing had done, but he didn't think it was a good idea to let those small orbs touch him. The creature then kneeled down as Sora kept moving around to avoid the orbs. Dark energy swirled within the hollow of the monster's chest, and Sora instantly knew what it was about to do.

_That little sparring session in the dream is really starting to pay off_, Sora smiled, as he swung his blade to deflect the five projectiles that came out of it's chest into it's face, _so far the only new trick this thing has had was that dark orb thing_.

The creature let out two more salvos, one of five projectiles and another of seven, before it decided that firing them at Sora was a waste of time. It got up and growled as it cocked back its fist again. Sora dodged deftly again and use the same trick again, swinging his Keyblade at its head.

As it shook him off, he taunted, "How's that? You done, or you want some more?"

Landing on what was left of his islands, Sora felt somewhat lighter, almost weightless. The large creature started making a strange huffing noise. As he continued to listen, Sora ealized the thing was laughing.

"What? What's so funny?" he took a challenging step forward. Or at least, he tried to, what he ended up doing was sprawling forward two feet. It was then he realized that he just didn't feel lighter, he was lighter! The dark orb was sucking the rest of the islands into itself. Sora scrambled for what was left of the pier, grabbing ahold of it just as the creature was lifted up into the orb. Sora tried to hold on, not wanting to leave the islands, even though there was nothing left but this small shard, prefering it to the darkness above him. But the windshear eventually got the better of him and with several explixitives, Sora was shoved into the unknown.

**Criticism is highly approved and appreciated. Anything that can be use to increase the quality of this work is loved to death.**

**Please flame nicely, this may not be my first fanfic ever written, but it is my first published.**

**BTW, boken = wooden sword  
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**Catch ya later!**


	2. 2 Prologue arc: Destiny part two

**Good Evening, This is KHVeteran.**

**I hope you are enjoying the series so far.**

**This is the second half of "Destiny", which serves as a prologue to the story proper. This chapter serves as an introduction for most of the Disney Castle characters, including the foremost important main (secondary) characters, Donald and Goofy.**

**Enjoy!**

~Chapter 2: Destiny part 2~

12 hours earlier

Donald made his usual morning rounds through Disney Castle. Still brooding over a spell he had botched in his private study, he made his patrol a little more brisk than he should have. His blue robes swirled around his webbed feet as he drew complex magical calculations with his short, stubby fingers-little use for anything except for semantics and holding things. An annoying perk of his race's evolutionary branch. The majestic white plume of feathers on top of his head moved with every slight moment he made, even though most of it was covered by his wizard's hat.

He gritted his naturally yellow teeth (another peevish perk) as he worked through a particularly tough equation. Just as he was finishing up, he realized he missed a very important turn five feet ago. Sighing, he used his magic to burn the symbols into his tome, and turned back to face a pair of very large doors inscribed with the Royal Crest, the Hidden Mickey.

Announcing his presence into the Audience Room with his own custom knock, Donald opened the smaller, service door hidden within the right door. Only the staff knew of this door, and only three people had the authority to use it without announcing their presence beforehand or without reason: Himself, the Captain of the Guard, and the Queen.

Opening the door, Donald made continued his morning routine as if it had been going on without a hitch, "Good morning, Your Majesty," he bowed as he entered.

_No response_, Donald thought as he closed the door behind him, _what has the King so preoccupied?_

Turning around, he saw that it wasn't that the King was busy, it was because he wasn't there! Panicking, Donald checked his chronometer while running up to the throne. _Am I late?_ Donald wondered as the loud slapping of his bare feet echoed throughout the marble-clad room, _No, if anything, I'm early!_

Then why was the King not here? It was then Donald saw the King's ever-faithful pet, Pluto. The Labrador-Golden Retriever mix had a letter in its mouth, sealed with the King's signet ring.

Petting Pluto and telling it was such a good boy, Donald opened the letter, and, after cleaning it up a little, read it:

Dear Donald,

Sorry I had to leave without sayin' goodbye, but the stars have been blinkin' out, one by one. I know this is sudden, but I hafta look into this. The fate of all the worlds may depend on my actions. However, I am not so naive to think I can do this all on my own.

I have my own mission to attend to, and now I shall give you yours. Your journey starts in a world called Traverse Town, which has become a haven for those whose worlds have disappeared. Go there with Goofy and find a man named Leon, ask him about the "Key". He will point you in the right direction. There is someone out there who has one of these "Keys", you find him, and stick with him, got it?

Your Pal,

(Here the King had simply stamped the Royal Crest)

P.S. Could'ya apologize to Minnie for me?

The letter gave Donald more questions than answers, but he knew he could not ignore a direct order from his King.

"That idiot, stubborn King!" Donald yelled in frustration, "Why's he gotta do everything on his own?"

Pluto whined, and Donald remembered he was still there, "We'll find him," he promised, "And we'll bring him back."

Many people had heard him talk to Pluto before, but Donald knew that Pluto was no ordinary dog. His ancestors had been breeding such dogs for years to protect the Royal Line of Kings. They were born with, lived as long as, and when the time came, died with or for their King. Donald had come to possess a healthy respect for Pluto and other such animals for a variety of reasons.

"Do you know where he is?" Donald asked Pluto, who shook his head in response. _Must be blocking his empathic link, then_, Donald thought,_ if we're going to find him, we've gotta do it by following his orders. If we go on and stick with this mission, we're bound to run into him sooner or later_.

Donald tore out two pages from his tome, and imprinted them with messages. After having them fold into envelopes, he gave them to Pluto, with instructions. The dog gave an affirmative bark, and rushed off to deliver the addressed messages. Donald then exited the Chamber, himself, to look for The Captain of the Guard.

As usual, Donald found him asleep in the Gardens. This time he had found a new hiding place near the shrub that had been cut to resemble a scale model of the castle it was sitting in the middle of. Knowing that simply shouting in his ear or shaking him awake wouldn't do the job, Donald prepared a minor, but effective version of the Thunder spell.

Pointing his finger at Goofy, Donald released the spell, resulting in the telltale _tap!tap!tap_! of a minor electrical shock.

Minor, but strong nonetheless. After a rousing scream, several words unbecoming of a Captain, and a few quick swings at the offender, Goofy was awake.

Scratching at the area under his jowls (where many of the bolts tagged him), Goofy's canine teeth clicked as he asked, "What's the bloody emergency?"

"The King's run off," Donald summed up, "Again."

"Then he's long gone," Goofy sighed, "Remember last time? It took us months to get him back to Yen Sid's"

"This time he left us a mission," Donald explained, and handed Goofy the letter.

"You sure this is legit?" Goofy asked.

"It was in Pluto's mouth."

Goofy made one of his canine grunts.

"The Queen will be joining us in the Gummi Garage," Donald said, opening the shrub's door, which revealed a large spiral staircase leading down, "We'd better be on our way."

"If we're going to other worlds, we can't muddle in their affairs, right?"

"Right," Donald said as they descended, "And it's 'meddling.'"

"Then we're going to need new duds," Goofy indicated his armor, which had to specially tailored to his tall, lanky frame.

"Not to worry," Donald smiled confidently, "My magic can handle trivial things like appearance."

Goofy rolled his puppy-dog eyes, "Well, after the explosion I heard last night, you'll forgive me if I feel a little tentative about leaving anything to your magic. What were you doing anyways?"

"Alchemy," Donald mumbled.

"You weren't trying to transmute lead to gold again, were you?"

The silence that followed answered Goofy's question.

"Holy shit, Donald," Goofy face-palmed, "Don't you remember what happened last time?"

Donald blushed, he knew full well what happened last time. Luckily he had a stash of love potion antidotes in his closet to cover the castle and it's staff, but the town (which had been caught in the updraft) had to wait a total of three whole months before Donald was able to make more.

"I had enough antidotes for the entire world in case my new filters didn't work."

Goofy burst out laughing, "What do you know? Donald actually does learn from his mistakes, if only to do the act that got him trouble once more!"

Donald told him where to stick his statement.

When they finally walked through the garage doors, proper, Goofy was still laughing, Donald was simmering, and the Queen was waiting for them. The sounds and smells of the garage assaulted them as they were temporarily blinded from walking into a bright area in contrast from the darkened staircase.

"There you are, Donald!" came a voice that made the recipient of the statement calm down and pale three shades of white.

"H-hi, Daisy," Donald replied with a forced smile, "Fancy seeing you here..."

"What's the meaning of this? You summon the Queen, _with the King's dog, no less_, to the Gummi Garage, without offering an explanation of any kind? This had better be good."

As Daisy continued to berate Donald, Goofy, who had nothing to fear from Donald's off-and-on girlfriend, summed the reason up in a low voice that everyone paid attention to, and offered the letter to Minnie.

The Queen (whom Goofy had to bend over slightly to give her the letter) looked over the letter with a concerned gaze. Donald could not help but be a little jealous of the Royal Line, even now. They had evolved so _much_ in so little a time. From tiny little mice, to a small bipedal species within a few hundred thousand years, and they even had fully functional fingers that could be used for myriad of tasks!

As Minnie read the letter, her large ears started to droop slightly, "Oh, dear whatever could this mean?"

"I'm sure he's alright," Goofy said, but his voice betrayed his worry.

With a confident voice, Donald said, "Don't worry, we'll find the King, and this 'Key'."

Minnie brightened up a bit, "Thank you, both of you."

"We'd better get going," Donald said, "Daisy, can you take care of-"

"Of course," Daisy said, "Just be careful, both of you."

Walking over to the podium, Donald pressed the button and spoke into the bullhorn, "Donald Duck to launch, crew: anytime you're ready!"

"Oh, Donald, one more thing," Minnie called, as Donald was lifted up by a large, gloved hand and taken to the Gummi Ship, "Just in case, I have already sent Pluto and somebody else on board! The other one's name is Jiminy Cricket, and he will be chronicling your journeys!"

Donald yelped and affirmative as he was dropped unceremoniously into the Ship.

After straightening up and strapping himself in, Donald waited for the telltale mini-quake that would announce Goofy's arrival.

As the Captain grumbled, Donald started up the pre-flight check, and introduced himself to Jiminy. After announcing that there were no engine leaks, Chip's voice cracked over the intercom once more, "Clear for launch!"

Giving Daisy the thumbs up, Donald checked to see if Goofy ad strapped himself in properly, for once, and gave the go-ahead, "Blast off!"

The four occupants stomachs dropped out from under them, and they fell down the large tunnel and used the gravity as their means to punch through their world's uniquely dense atmosphere.

Soon they were in Interspace, and on their way to Traverse Town.

~Chapter 2 End~

**Forgive the shortness of this chapter, but let's face it, I didn't have much to go on. XD**

**As I wrote this, I didn't really want Goofy to be stupid, but as you will see in future chapters, I'm going to be really opening up his clumsy characteristics. The reason for this is simply because no one gets to the rank of Captain by just collecting bottle caps (and for those of you who get that reference, one brownie point to you).**

**I also didn't want the Disney characters to be 100% animals, because this series is supposed to be slightly more realistic than the cartoons, so I made them so that they had evolved from their original animals, instead, and I really think it worked in my favor.**

**The next chapter is the beginning of the Traverse Town Arc, I'm so excited! Writing Yuffie, Squall (Leon), and all the others for the first time is going to be so much fun!**

**Fun fact: If I went through with BBSNoir, I would have included them in the Radiant Garden Arc. Shame that never happened.**

**Again, I revel in fanmail! Send me reviews, whether it's beneficial or not! Gimme a reason to keep on writing!**

**See ya next chapter! KHVet, out.**


	3. TT Arc: Arrival in the World of the Lost

**Good Evening fellow readers, this is KHVeteran.**

**This chapter took a long time for such a short piece :\**

**I've had a lot to do lately. Finals and Christmas are coming up. Funfunfun. Why do two/three costly holidays come back to back to one another? It's kinda annoying, don't'cha think?**

**Anywhos, my early Christmas present to all of you: The beginning of the Traverse Town Arc. Please enjoy!**

~Traverse Town Arc: Chapter 1: Arrival in the World of the Lost~

"A star's going out...," Goofy noted.

"Where?" Donald asked, and Goofy pointed it out to him. Indeed, as they watched, the star grew brighter and brighter until it finally flashed and disappeared from the night sky.

"We have to find Leon right away," Donald said, and Goofy nodded agreement. Unbeknownst to the both of them, Pluto had hurried on ahead of them, sniffing a trail of...something.

The Wizard and the Knight had also taken the opportunity in the Gummi Ship to change their clothes. Goofy finally managed to convince Donald that a simple glamour spell would not be enough, for what would happen if Donald got knocked out, or worse, killed? Better safe than sorry.

Although Goofy was reluctant to relinquish his armor, if it meant finding the King, he'd be willing to run about naked. Thankfully, he didn't have to. He did not, however, neglect to bring his shield, as it was the only "weapon" he could properly use without bringing harm to his comrades, or even himself. It currently hung from his back, the round steel plate bumping into him through layers of cloth.

_Although there is one advantage to regular clothing in comparison to heavy armor_, Goofy thought, as he examined the green shirt and orange khakis, _it's much easier to move around in this. Besides, I don't think I'll need that level of protection. My shield and Donald's magic, despite its misgivings, should be fine, _he concluded, adjusting the replacement for his helmet, which was an orange hat and a pair of goggles_._

Donald, himself, was decked out in all blue, as usual, although his vest and jeans were accented in yellow, as well. And he had pockets, lots of pockets. His typical wizard's hat had been replaced by a blue beret.

"This looks like a commercial district," Donald said, pointing out the line of shops, "Let's go see where these people live."

"Roger," Goofy said, as he nearly tripped on the stairs that let up to a walkway that surrounded a shop that was emblazoned with the neon label "Benemont's Herbal Medicine, Accessories, and Other Goods" on a Fleur de Lis sign. As he looked back up from the stairs, he thought he caught a glimpse of Pluto disappearing around the opposite corner as Donald, and decided to notify his friend, "Hey, Donald, I betcha that-"

"Oh, what do you know?" Donald snapped, still miffed that his magic was apparently "unreliable".

Goofy just sighed and decided that, for the time being, he'll let Donald calm down. Odds were that if Pluto found the King, he'd drag him back to the Castle, or at the very least notify them that he was okay and lead them to him.

"Good luck, Pluto," Goofy called, and ran to catch up with Donald.

Pluto continued to sniff out the trail he was following, until he came to the sleeping form of a boy. The boy was stirring, as if trying to crawl himself out of an unpleasant dream. His face and clothes were streaked with dirt and sweat, and he smelled of one many scents he was trained to recognize: the bittersweet smell of darkness. But while he did smell a little like the Realm of Darkness, he did not smell like a denizen of it.

Pluto did smell something familiar, though. It smelled like the boy of a similar age, but he disappeared ten years ago. The blue-haired not-being took him somewhere else. Pluto continued to sniff at the boy, identifying familiar smells from the time his Master took him to the beach. He smelled of the sea, and tropical fruit (especially around the area around his mouth.). He also smelled blood, but Pluto could see it was the boy's blood from numerous wounds and scratches, all of which smelled like it was caused by the darkness.

It also didn't look much like the blond-haired one, for one, his hair was brown, and it was spiked differently. He also did not dress like the boy from ten years ago, nor could he find the odd symbol that he and his friends (even the not-being) possessed in common, yet he could smell the scent of the light-weapon that they and his master used.

But just because he wielded a light weapon did not make him a good guy, Pluto continued to sniff at and around the boy, trying to search out more clues. The scarred man wielded one and smelled of light, but he attacked his own students. The bald man wielded one, but he smelled of darkness, and his apprentice had no scent of light whatsoever. The not-being wielded one, but she smelled of nothing. Pluto didn't think it was possible to smell nothing until then. But the boy smelled like none of these people, so he should be alright, but there was only one way to find out.

Pluto barked, startling the boy into wakefulness. He looked about wildly, before finding Pluto. Blue eyes, the blond one from ten years ago had blue eyes, but then so did the not-being. But this one didn't smell of nothing, and the smell of darkness was dissipating.

"Where is this place?" the boy asked to no one in particular, but then addressed Pluto, "Do you know where we are?"

Pluto was about to answer, but then he heard something familiar, a whistle. Thinking the boy was of no, or in any, danger, Pluto took off to find the source.

"Hey!" Sora called out to the dog, "Come back!"

He ran after it, calling after it, but then quickly discovered something that made him stop in his tracks. He was in a town, an old one at that. The cobblestone street, the lampposts that were lit by flame, even the buildings were built using a style Sora couldn't name, but had seen similar versions in history class. Sora knew of no city or town that possessed a structure quite like this one, and as he recalled his memories from earlier that night, his world was gone.

Another world, Sora thought, "I'm actually in one..."

Walking down the steps to a large courtyard lit up by two lampposts, Sora looked with wonder and awe at the buildings.

"This is amazing," Sora half-laughed, but then he remembered, and the smile quickly vanished from his face. He had to find Riku and Kairi! Turning around, he suddenly realized that he wasn't alone in this area of the town. Across from him was an outdoor restaurant of sorts, four tables, each with a lit candle. Sitting at the table farthest from Sora was a boy around his age, and a woman all dressed up in green appeared to be comforting him.

Thinking it was a good a spot as any to start looking for his friends, Sora started walking that way. As he walked closer, Sora began to suspect he knew the boy, but knew it wasn't Riku. The closer he got the more he thought he recognized him, until he finally knew who it was.

"Tidus?" Sora called out in surprise, and the boy jumped up to look at him.

Tidus stood there with a look of disbelief on his face, and the woman smiled and said, "You see? I told you that there was a possibility that one of you friends made it out, too!"

Raising a hand as if to cast aside a dream, Tidus' voice shook as he said, "...S-Sora...?" But then he lowered his arm, and his disbelief began to melt into anger, "W-why?"

Tidus charged at Sora, and Sora was barely able to summon his Keyblade in time. As he blocked the blow, he realized that somewhere along the line, Tidus had managed to steal one of his father's swords. It was the one that was designed to look similar to the charm he and his son always wore.

"Tidus, stop it!" Sora called out, "This isn't the time to be fighting!"

"Like hell it isn't!" Tidus drew back his new weapon and struck again and again, but Sora soon realized he was striking out of blind anger, as each strike became easier and easier to block, "Why? Why you? Where is Wakka? Lulu? Selphie? Why were you the only one to survive?"

Sora blocked another blow and saw Tidus was crying, "Why? Why not mom?"

Tidus had stopped swinging, and was now leading on his sword, "Hell, I'd even take Riku..."

Tidus was totally bawling now. Sora took his off-hand and tentatively slid Tidus's sword away. Tidus let the sword fall, and Sora dismissed his Keyblade. Placing his left hand on Tidus's shoulder, Sora let the tenderness into his voice, "Tidus..."

Tidus raised his head to look at Sora, and received a slugger right across his face, "Get a hold of yourself, you fucking crybaby!"

Tidus looked up with stunned expression on his face from where he had landed on the cobblestones, cupping the cheek where Sora had punched him.

"Where's the confident, arrogant Tidus that was always ready to beat me up?" Sora demanded.

Tidus blinked a few times and then smiled, "Shut the hell up, black sheep," he said as he got up.

Sora helped him up, and they walked back over to the restaurant. The woman that Sora assumed was the waitress glared at him.

"What?" Sora protested, "He attacked me!"

She rolled her eyes, but consented the point.

Tidus sat the chair he was sitting in back up and said, "That's Allei. She's been helping me out a bunch for the past few hours."

"Nice to meet you," Sora said, without adding the "I guess," he was thinking.

"Nice to meet you too, Sora," Allei said with a forced smile.

Thinking, he'd better leave their current conversation like that, Sora turned his attention back to Tidus, "What happened?"

"Hell," was the response.

~Arrival in the World of the Lost-END~

**Weeeeeee, I got to add an original character! Allei is based on one of my GaiaOnline accounts. She was a very naive-and very A****.****D****.****D****.****-character, but that was when she first arrived to Gaia. This is my first chance to find out what would happen if I put her in a nearly hopeless environment for a few years. Turns out she becomes a little beam of hope for others...in this case, Tidus.**

**Speaking of whom, I 'spose many of you are thinking, "WTF? Tidus disappeared!"**

**While this is true, according to the canon, but in the game there was this one boy who bore an uncanny resemblance to Tidus in the Traverse Town's First District. I just decided to change him into Tidus instead of coming up with another OC XDDDDD. Lazy author is lazy! Besides, I have plans for a KHN Tidus offshoot story. I dunno when I'll write it, but it'll definitely be finished before KHN segues from KH1 to KHCoM.**

**Wait, lemme guess, "Who's this Benemont guy?" Answer: Another OC. That's all you're getting for now :p**

**Next chapter's gonna be interesting...It's flashback time! I wonder how many other people have written about the final night on Destiny Islands from a POV that wasn't Sora/Riku/Kairi?**

**Hopefully, I'll be able to introduce Noir Cid next chapter.**

**Reviews are wanted! Fan mail? Likes? Improvements? Comments? Error reports? Complaints..? Hate mail...? Send me something, pleeeee~ease DX!**

**KHVeteran, out.**

**P.S., As I am writing this, I have just validated my copy of Word 2010, so I can make doubly sure I don't have any typos! Yay XD**

**Which I'm sure will make less aggravating reading for you guys and gals.**

**Ok, for real this time, I'm outta here. See ya next chapter!**


	4. TT Arc: Night of Flight

**Happy New Year's from KHVeteran (and his girlfriend)!**

**Speaking of whom, she helped me some with this chapter during the Tidus POV flashback. You'll understand why here in a bit.**

**Yep, it's been a fun year, hasn't it? And I don't think I'll be able to finish this before the world supposedly ends, lol. Yay cliffhangers! XD**

**On a more serious note, this chapter has received the YAOI ALERT STATUS, (This is why, and yes, I has a fangirl for a gf) so if you no like yaoi, you no read, ok? Don't worry, you won't be missing much if you skip this chapter. And no, it's not lemon. Those'll come later.**

**As for pairings, it's some hints of TidusxWakka (Tidka?), and previous TidusxRiku (Tidku?). Poor Tidus, an uke, and no semes in sight. XD**

**And I have two followers (besides my gf), now! I'm so excited! Now I just need fanmail! XD**

**Anyways, I hope ya'll will enjoy this. I tried to make this a bit longer than the last chapter, to make up for it's shortness. Sorry, but it was holiday season, and I felt like I needed to get SOMETHING out.**

**Wow, sorry for the long, A/N. Here, read the story already!**

~Traverse Town Arc: Chapter 2: Night of Flight~

~Several hours ago, Destiny Islands~

Me and Wakka, we were doing a little one-on-one Blitzball in the school's pool, when the storm hit. We didn't really notice, nor did Lulu's or Selphie's calls gain our attention when it began thundering. I was just about to score the most badass goal by using a move I had been perfecting, which I had called the "Sphere Shot;" which involved leaping out of the pool.

That's when I saw it.

A large, shadowy mass rising slowly out of the ocean, like the opening of a really bad porn video. I was so shocked, and, quite honestly, laughing so hard from the comparison I made, that I totally screwed up my shot, and landed on the bottom of the pool with my head.

I wasn't out long. I woke up in Wakka's big burly arms, looking up into his blue eyes, and blushed.

"You okay, Tidus?" Wakka said, concerned.

I cleared my throat and said, "Yeah." I took in a quick survey of my surroundings, and saw that we were still by the pool, but Lulu and Selphie had gone missing. When I inquired Wakka about it, he got this faraway look, and said "I don't know, they weren't there when I drug you out of the pool."

Alone with Wakka, I thought, even though I liked the idea, these weren't exactly the best of circumstances, and besides….he was straight….He wouldn't have gone for it unless I tied him down. Come to think of it, that might not be a bad idea…..

Anyways….

We ran into town, where we both ran into a bunch of small, black monsters. I tried to fight them off, but I couldn't strike a single hit against them with my baseball bat. Wakka had a little bit more success, managing to strike them with his Blitzball, which made them disappear into black smoke.

"We gotta get out of here!" I called, to which Wakka replied, "No shit, genius! But there isn't anywhere to run to! These things are crawling all over town, in case you haven't noticed!"

It only took a few glances to see he was right. The damn things were all over town, several buildings were on fire, but oddly enough, I did not see any dead bodies.

I mean, come on, if you're being invaded by a bunch of monsters that can apparently only be hit by ranged sporting goods, you expect to see a bunch of corpses because that's what you see in movies, right? No single dead person in sight.

However, something did happen that I could have sworn was from a movie. Out of nowhere, this dark portal opened up underneath Wakka, and he freaked. I tried to run to him, but those damned things kept getting in my way. Right before he disappeared into that dark abyss, I managed to get through the monsters and dive for his hand.

I went right past the diminishing shades right through a window. I wanted to cry right there, but I knew I needed to keep going. Especially considering that the building I was in was on fire. I rushed through it, and wound up in the central courtyard. And then I saw someone I least expected to see.

"What the hell are you doing here, Auron?"

The red-clad samurai smirked at me, "It's been ten years. I thought you'd be crying."

Before I could shoot back a witty remark, more of the black creatures showed up.

"Shit," I still didn't have a weapon, but then Auron held something out to me that looked awfully familiar. It was a sword, red and shaped….like my old man's sign. The Jecht family logo. As much as I wanted to shove away the sword and hide behind Auron, I knew that I needed a weapon, ASAP.

Begrudgingly, I took the sword by its hilt and Auron drug me up from the ground with it. I almost lost my balance when he let go.

"A gift from Jecht," Auron said in his cryptic voice.

"My old man?" He'd been missing long before Auron showed up, how the hell did he know him?

But Auron only nodded, "Hope you know how to use it."

I wiped my bottom lip with my other fist in a "well, duh" gesture, and took up my customary stance.

"The small fry don't matter, we cut through!" Auron said, rushing off and cutting down the creatures as he went. It was hard for me to keep up, but I managed.

Finally, we came to a bridge, and we were cut off suddenly by a bunch off monsters. There were the small ones, yeah, but there was also a big one mixed among them. It looked similar to the creatures surrounding it, but it was more humanoid, and had longer antennae. As we watched it disappeared into a dark puddle, which then rushed past and under the army of the "small fry" to right under us and leapt out to strike Auron and myself.

I felt a great anger rising up in me. Lulu and Selphie were nowhere to be found, these things had invaded my turf, kidnapped Wakka, and now they were adding insult to injury by showing me that I had barely scratched the surface of their massive army.

I had had enough.

"Get out of my town!" I growled, which was joined by Auron's cry, "Some can't wait to die!"

The humanoid shadow had landed several feet away, and decided it was time to show it what I was capable of. I charged after it, covered the space between us by somersaulting over the swath of dark monsters and cutting the creature in half.

Or, at least, I tried to. This thing was apparently tougher than the others. Instead of collapsing into black dust like it's pals, it started….bleeding this dark…, viscous substance….the only way I could describe it is if you imagine it as if you turned darkness into a liquid. It growled at me, opening it's mouth, which was shaped oddly. It was like….like its mouth was a zig-zag line, like our mouths are horizontal ones, you know?

I knew that if Auron hadn't saved me with Dragon Fang, it or its friends would have definitely killed me, or whatever it had been doing to the other villagers. They all went up in an explosion of red and black, and Auron grabbed me, almost dragging me along across the bridge.

"I can run fine myself!" I told Auron, who simply said, "Fine," and left me to stumble behind him a few steps when he let go.

"Cut the ones that matter and run!" Auron told me, as he cut an efficient route through the sea of black to the large orb in the sky, which as currently hovering above the town's pier.

"Shouldn't we be running the other way?" I yelled, but my cry fell on deaf ears.

And then, for a second, everything stopped. The shadows stopped moving, the sea stopped making sound, and Auron stopped swinging his sword. Then came the noise. I didn't realize it at first, but it was coming from the monsters. The cry was low at first, but it slowly grew as each one started to join in. I couldn't help but think that it sounded like the cheering of fans in a Blitzball stadium.

And then the world fell apart. A force flew me into the pier, which was now floating several thousand feet in the air. That's when I noticed that there was a gigantic shadow floating above the sphere that was sucking everything into itself, from houses to villagers.

"Auron!" I called, trying to climb up to him, but the constantly shifting wood made it difficult.

But he was turned towards the sky, "Are you certain?" he asked no one in particular.

Then he bowed his head, grabbed me by the collar, and he stood there clearly unaffected by the sudden changes in gravity. As I grew lighter, floating feet-first towards the orb, Auron blessed, or cursed, me with these last words, "This is your story."

"This is where it all begins."

~Present time, Traverse Town~

"I woke up in the Zero District waterways, fought my way back here," Tidus finished, gazing blankly into his full, but long since cold mug of cocoa.

Sora had been staring blankly at Tidus for a while now, and Tidus finally had enough, "What the hell is it, black sheep?"

"You're gay?"

Tidus facepalmed, "I didn't exactly keep it a secret, you know. Everyone on the islands knew…except for you and Wakka. Maybe there's a connection…."

"Hey!" Sora protested, "Don't compare me to him!"

"Wouldn't dream of it, black sheep," Tidus smiled condescendingly, "You are nowhere as big as he is."

Sora blushed, but didn't quite know why, so he said nothing and glared at his former nemesis.

"More hot cocoa?" Allei came along to interrupt them, apparently not wanting another fight.

"Yes, please," Tidus held her cup out to her.

Sora gave her his empty mug, "Thank you. Say, Allei?"

"Yes, Sora?"

"Is everyone here from a different world?"

Allei smiled gently and said, "No, there were some inhabitants here before they started taking on refugees."

She turned to leave, but Sora wasn't finished, "Wait, 'they?' Do you mean you're from another world too?"

She stopped, "Yes," she said quietly.

"Wow, that's so cool!" Sora smiled, "Which world are you from?"

Tidus shook his head vehemently, but it was too late, the damage was done. Allei turned to face Sora, her eyes glistening with tears, "Let me give you a piece of advice, Sora. Don't ask that question around here…, everyone here has a past they're trying to forget."

And with that, Allei ran into the restaurant's kitchen.

"Sora, you jerk," Tidus glared.

"I-I was only trying too….," Sora protested, but felt that this moment would scar him for life, no matter what he said. So he just put his head in his arms, and let the insults come.

But when none came, Sora looked up, confused. Tidus was looking off to his left, completely ignoring Sora.

"Hey, not that I don't mind…," Sora began tentatively, "But what's with the silent treatment?"

"I just realized something," Tidus turned to face Sora, "What's with that weapon you pulled out of nowhere? I haven't ever seen anything like it."

Sora sighed and told him his side of things. When he finished, Sora noticed that Tidus had a weird look on his face.

"What?"

"That idiot!" Tidus slammed his fist on the table, "What was Riku thinking?"

"What do you mean?" Sora leaned in, knowing that Tidus and Riku were close in the past, though he didn't really want to think about the implications of what that could have meant at the moment.

"Riku…he," Tidus began with a pained look on his face.

Sora lifted both of his hands in the universal "no offense" gesture, "It's okay, if you don't wanna tell me, I'm down with it."

"No, you're going to go look for him," Tidus said, "Don't try to deny it. You're his friend, I'd do the same thing. But my point is…Riku always had some secret he'd never tell anybody, not even me, and as time passed on, he became…more distant. As if he kept expecting something momentous to happen, and it never did."

Sora's eyebrows knitted together, "When we were younger, and Riku would play with me just to piss off his parents, there was a strange man there."

"Strange, how?" Tidus was the one leaning in now.

"His clothes, for one," Sora pinched the bridge of his nose, "I'd never seen anyone on the islands dressed that way. And he looked similar to that boy that the mayor was always grumbling about. 'Cept his hair was….dark. Brown, I think."

"Mayor said that his hair was silver," Tidus commented.

"He spoke about something with Riku," Sora shook his head, trying to cast away distracting thoughts, "I never heard them. Riku wouldn't speak a word about it after that, no matter how much I teased him. Eventually, I just stopped asking."

"So it had something to do with that guy," Tidus frowned.

"There's something else," Sora added suddenly, "After you guys left, we got on the subject of different worlds. Riku didn't look me or Kairi in the eyes the entire time we were on the subject, except to thank Kairi about something.

"You think he knew?" Tidus asked quietly.

"Maybe," Sora looked up in exasperation, "But I doubt he was the one who caused our world to fall apart."

An image of the cloaked figure popped into Sora's mind, "It might have been him…"

"Who?" Tidus asked, and Sora told him.

"It is a strange coincidence, but Sora," Tidus's voice took on a warning tone, "Don't go charging into what you don't understand. This isn't a fight between the two of us about turf anymore. This is real, and you could wind up dead."

"I'm not going to die!" Sora said defiantly, as he stood up, "And just because we're all buddy-buddy now, doesn't mean you can go around telling me what to do, got it?"

Tidus shook his head, "You're never going to change, are you?"

"Why should I?" Sora challenged, "If people can't accept me for who I am, then I don't need them!"

Tidus looked stunned by that statement, then quietly muttered, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Now it was Sora's turn to be stunned, "Huh? I was kind of expecting you to leap over the table and try to beat me into a pulp."

"Maybe some changes are good things. This isn't a gang war, Sora. I may not be the best advocate for growing up, but maybe it's time to start."

The kitchen door opened, and Allei appeared with two fresh mugs of hot chocolate. She was smiling, but both boys could tell her heart wasn't in it, and her eyes were still slightly red.

Sora looked away and scratched his head in a pang of guilt, as Tidus glared at him.

"I heard yelling," Allei said as she handed the two boys their cups (Tidus definitely had more marshmallows than Sora), "Is everything all right?"

"Yeah," Tidus said quietly.

"Well, that's good," Allei smiled genuinely this time, "If you two need any help settling in, or getting to understand Traverse Town better, you should see Cid, over at the Accessory Shop, straight up the steps."

She turned to go back into the kitchen.

"Hey, Allei!" Sora blurted suddenly, his face beet red.

She stopped, one hand on the door.

"I…..I, uh," Sora stammered out.

"Just say it, and get it over with, black sheep!" Tidus grinned maliciously from his cup.

"I'm sorry…. I was only trying to make amends for before, but I ended up dragging up some painful memories instead….," Sora bowed formally, "Please accept my apology."

Tidus blinked, "Wow, Sora! You can actually bow?"

Sora wanted to kick Tidus in the face, but he also wanted his apology to be sincere, so he gritted his teeth and endured the torment.

"It's quite all right, Sora," Allei smiled, "You didn't know, so there's no need to apologize."

And with that, Allei shut the door to her kitchen.

Tidus put down his mug of hot chocolate, "So what are you going to do now?"

Sora looked over to the Accessory shop sign, "I'm going to go see this Cid guy. If I'm going to find Riku and Kairi, that's the place to start."

"How do you figure?" Tidus looked around him to gaze at the sign as well.

"Allei spoke of that guy like he's the Town's leader, or something. If Riku or Kairi landed here, they'll eventually be directed there."

"Oh, I gotcha," Tidus nodded, "Like how every outsider's directed to the Mayor first, before anyone else."

Sora nodded.

"Well, then," Tidus turned back to his mug, "That is where we part ways."

"You're going to look for Wakka?"

Tidus nodded, "And I expect Lulu and Selphie got the same treatment as the rest of us. They're bound to be out there somewhere."

Sora nodded, "Yeah."

The two boys, once enemies, now walked towards the shop as allies.

Their destinies set, they vowed to see their journeys through, no matter what lay ahead.

~Night of Flight-END~

**Sorry, no Noir Cid. I felt if I introduced him now, it would unbalance the chapter. But he'll definitely appear next chapter.**

**And it isn't quite time for Tidus's offshoot story yet, either. He has one or two more cameo appearances before I send him off into the jaws of doom, mwahahahahahahahaa! (jk)**

**If all goes well, I'll be done with the next chapter before the month is over.**

**Also, one brownie point to those of you who got the sort-of OST reference in the chapter name!**

**Reviews are still wanted! Fanmail's cool, too!**

**This is KHVeteran, saying "Sayonara, ningen!"**


	5. TT Arc: Shadows of the Unknown

**Good Evening, this is KHVeteran.**

**Whoof, another chapter down. No alerts to speak of, so you may read freely, lol.**

**I had some difficulty finding the motivation writing the chapter, but during times like these, I think of one of my favorite quotes: "The next hole's the hardest." One brownie point to those of you that know which book/movie adaption that's from.**

**So this hole in particular was one of the harder ones, but I won't drop this project.**

**Anyways, enjoy Chapter 3!**

~Traverse Town: Chapter 3: Shadows of the Unknown~

The bell on the door ringed as Sora pushed it to enter the Accessory Shop.

"Welcome," came a gruff voice from the counter, "How may I—Aw, it's only a couple of fuckin' kids."

Sora flushed, "I'm not a kid, and my name is Sora!" as Tidus yelled his own retort of "Kid? Who the hell do you think you are, old man?"

" 'Aight, 'aight, Sora, and whoever the hell you are," the old man said around his smoke, "Simmer the hell down. Seesh, you two make more noise than a bitch in heat."

Sora twitched inwardly_, I am _not_ a bitch_, he thought, but nothing more would be gained from acting like one. Tidus must have realized this as well, for he, too, had fallen silent, but his face remained as red as before.

The man leaned over the counter to stare at the boys. His white tee was streaked with old sweat and some black-brown substance Sora couldn't identify. An aviator jacket was tied around his waist, above a pair of well-used blue jeans, and his footwear was hidden from view by the counter. His face had well-chiseled features, but they were slightly hidden by his day-and-a-half shadow, and a pair of goggles that rested between his blue eyes and blond, spiked hair.

The shop itself was one-room, with a fireplace in one corner, and a small sitting area in the other. A shelf next to the counter, and display cases on the counter, in the wall opposite the door, and between the counter and the sitting area had several myriad items in them, not necessarily all "accessories".

"You two new in town?" The man, obviously Cid, asked, "Man, why do they keep sending me the fuckin' newbies? What do I look like? The tutorial man?"

"They obviously see you as their leader for some reason," Sora said, hoping flattery would soothe his mood.

"Yeah, yeah," Cid scratched the back of his head, "Bunch'a bitchin' newbs, the lotta them. Okay, fine, I'll help ya out."

Sora and Tidus told him their stories, and Cid listened intently. Sora thought a strange expression flashed across Cid's face when he mentioned the Keyblade, but when he looked again, Cid facial expression was the same as it had been the same as when they first met him: a surly "I-don't-care" expression. Sora wrote it off as his imagination.

"I don't know 'bout yer friends," Cid replied after they were done, "But this sure ain't yer island. My suggestion? Take a look 'round town. They might be here somewhere, and this town really ain't as big as it looks."

"Okay," Sora bowed his head in depression, _I was really hoping they'd be here…_

"Hey, chin up, Sora!" Tidus said, "It's not the end of….well, _this_ world, but still."

Sora glared at him briefly before thanking Cid and walking out into the Traverse Town night.

After Cid sent the other kid on his way, he sighed, _Nearly gave me a fuckin' heart attack when that kid walked in…He looks so similar to that kid._

_What was his name? Vantus, Finkus, Pious? _Cid couldn't remember. _Why are all of the Keyblade's Chosen fuckin' brats?_

He walked over to the Shop's telephone. He had his old cell in his pocket, but it wouldn't work here, even if he found a way to charge its battery. He just liked to keep it with him in case he ever got to go home again.

He dialed the number to the Hotel's Green Room.

"Squall?" Cid asked confirmation, just in case, "Yeah, yeah, kid. Shut up, I got something you need to hear."

Sora sat down on the steps in front of the Accessory Shop. He reviewed the map Cid gave him. The Town was separated into three districts, and the First District, as well as the Hotel, was the only places that were untouched by the Heartless, at least for the time being.

_Where do I even start?_ Sora thought_, I know Cid said the town wasn't as big as it looked, but there are so many places they could be! How do I find someone if I go in one door the moment they come out another? I could be looking for them forever._

Sora was so preoccupied with the map, he didn't even notice that someone had stepped up beside him.

"Ya new here?" A gruff voice asked, making Sora jump, "Whoa, tere kid, didn't mean ta startle ya."

Sora turned to face the man. He was bald, and well-built, but it was obvious he hadn't been working out recently: his belly was hanging over his hakama. His chest and arms were covered in scars, but none extended to his back. He was the age at the height of his physical peak, and the beginning of great wisdom.

"Who're you?" Sora asked, after his heart stopped beating over nine thousand miles per hour.

"It's considered proper manners to identify yarself 'fore asking fer 'nothers, but I guess tha's wut I get," The man said as he sat down next to Sora, "Name's Xynbad, but ever'one 'round here calls me 'Uncle.'"

"Why 'Uncle?'" Sora asked.

"Dunno," Xynbad smiled, "It migh' be tha' was wut I was named 'fore I came to this world."

Sora thought about asking him why he would've been called that on his home world, but decided to drop it, recalling Allei's advice.

"So, Uncle…," Sora started, but didn't know where to go from there.

"Ya 'aven't answered me question yet, kid, nor have ya told me yar name," Xynbad said, in good humor, "N' I won't feel disturbed 'bout questions 'bout me world. I don't have th' same…troubles as Travarse Taon's udder in'abitants, unlike Allei."

"Oh, sorry, my name's Sora, and I'm…deciding how to start looking for my friends, they might have arrived here with me," Sora said, "And how did you come by the name 'Uncle?'"

Xynbad laughed, "One day, I brought me baby ne'few to th' smitty wit' me, n' he said his first werds ten. Me friends never let me live it down. 'Uncle, uncle!'" He imitated a small child's voice and laughed again, and Sora found himself smiling despite himself.

"Weren't you worried you might've hurt your nephew there?"

"Naw, magic n' physical barriars kept 'im safe," Xynbad waved him off, "So findin' yar friends, eh? What's stoppin' ya?"

"I don't know where to even start!" Sora said, frustrated, "This town, it's huge, and it's…unfamiliar," he finished, uncomfortable.

"Ahh, it ain't all tha' big," Xynbad laughed, slapping Sora on the back, "N' th' unfamiliar part, well, ya've got a strong pair o' legs. Get up and start walkin'."

Sora looked back to the map sitting on his lap, "Yeah, I guess."

"Th' Toan's scary, I get it," Xybad smiled, "But th' unknown's only scary as long as it stays unknown."

Xynbad's statement reminded Sora of something Riku once said, _"Shadows and darkness are incorporeal, you must first shine light on it. Once you know what shape casts the shadow, you can fight it."_

_So I gotta cast aside the darkness, so that there is nothing to fear from it, huh?_ Sora thought, _that makes sense._

"Thanks, Uncle."

"Anytime, Sora," Xynbad smiled, "Jus' keep a watchful eye out fer 'Eartless."

"Heartless?"

"Th' black critters," Xynbad said, "Cid didn' tell ya their proper name?"

Sora shook his head.

"Well, now ya know," Xynbad nodded, but then frowned, "Can't 'magine wut he was tinkin'. Musta been distracted by somethin'…"

Sora ran the memories through his head. Cid was distracted by _something_, he had a far-away look the entire time he told him about the island's invasion. But it wasn't important now.

"I'll ask him about it later," Sora shook his head, "Right now, finding out if my friends are here are more important."

"Stay safe."

Sora nodded and took off, into the unknown.

A few minutes after Sora ran into the large doors into the Second District, a young man walked down the steps Xynbad was still sitting on.

"Uncle," he said, "Have you seen a new kid around here, teens, brown hair?"

"Yeah, I saw Sora," Xynbad's brow knitted together, "What of it, Leon?"

The moment Sora opened the doors, he was greeted by a scream. As he watched, a man was attacked by the Heartless.

"Shit!" Sora rushed to his defense, summoning his Keyblade, but whatever happened, he was already too late. The man's…heart—it was the only explanation for the thing that floated out of the middle of the man's chest, and disappeared into a dark portal, but not before Sora saw what it would possibly become: a shadow of the man, with angry moonlight eyes. Sora shivered, but didn't blink as the apparition disappeared from view.

_Whatever that Heartless is_, Sora thought, _I never want to fight it, that's for damn sure._

Then Sora noticed that the Heartless that attacked the man was still there. It hissed, and more of it's kind rose out of the ground, surrounding him.

Before the first few Heartless leapt at him, Sora found himself wishing that Riku was by his side, helping him cast aside the darkness of the unknown. Then the moment was gone, and Sora leapt into the fray.

~Shadows of the Unknown-END~

**Another KHOST reference in the chapter, this time completely by accident, so half a brownie point if you caught it? Also a couple of hidden references, a brownie point each, if you find and get them XD**

**Anyways…**

**Yay, Noir Cid! He cussed more than I was expecting to XD**

**And another OC! He's based on a character from an original story of mine.**

**And yet another OC! Too bad he was the one I sacrificed to the Heartless…But we'll see him again. ;)**

**And Leon gets introduced! We'll be seeing him again soon, as most-almost all of you-know XD**

**Uncle also got more philosophical than I expected, and I wasn't expecting that line from Riku either. Just more proof that this story's gonna be fun! XDDDDDD**

**Action time, next chapter! Sora fights his way through Traverse Town in search of his friends, and maybe I'll be able to put in "that" boss fight :] Stay tuned!**

**More reviews, please! I needs me some motivation, lol.**

**Until the next chapter-stay faithful, my readers, KHVet—out.**


	6. TT Arc: Second District

**Good Evening, this is KHVeteran.**

**This chapter's the longest I've done so far, and still no alerts to speak of…however, there will be some lemony goodness coming soon…hopefully. I gotta check a couple more chapters out of the way first so I can set it up XD**

**This may be the only update I have for a while, now that school's started back up for me again. After all, I need good grades to do what I dream to do, and so, I won't put this story on hiatus, but I probably won't updating as often, either. It'll all depend on how much homework I'll get, and considering the stuff I've got so far, it could potentially pile up real quick -.-**

**Anywhos, the 4****th**** chapter of the Traverse Town Arc, Enjoy!**

~Traverse Town Arc: Chapter 4: Second District~

As he fought the Heartless, Sora quickly discovered that there was a pattern to their movements, like how they would lean back before trying to scratch him, or how they leapt into the air in an attempt to kick him. The more he fought them, the more he was able to predict their movements. He began to wonder if the reason behind their dominion was simply because of sheer numbers, because they were easy enough to kill.

Every now and then, though, one of the more sneaky ones would get out of his line of sight, and attack him from behind. But Sora managed to persevere and defeat them all. As the smoke settled around the panting boy, he noticed that some of the dark essence that the Heartless left behind had coalesced into strange orbs. Most of them were red, hollow containers that possessed a swirling green liquid within.

_That looks like…, naw it can't be_…, but as Sora tore into the orb with his teeth-the red "wrapper" peeled away as easily as wax—he found that it was potion. _No way…_, he thought, _how in the hell do you get this from…whatever it is that those things are made of?_

The other orbs were yellow, with a bluish sheen to them, and shaped like 8-sided dice. _Munny? No way_, Sora thought, but as he picked up the small, sparkling jewel, he saw that it was indeed munny.

"Wow," Sora said nonplussed, "I can actually make a living off of defeating Heartless."

_The amount of munny I got from killing just these ten or so…,_ Sora continued in his mind, _would easily pay for a whole day's worth of food. I wonder why the Heartless from the islands or…my dreams…didn't drop anything?_

Sora thought about it for a while, but then shook his head and sighed, _I'll never find it out standing here, and besides, another moment standing here means another second Riku and Kairi are in danger!_

At that thought, Sora ran for the hotel nearby, thinking that since the hotel was one of the few places devoid of Heartless, they might have taken refuge there.

As Sora ran into the hotel, Donald and Goofy walked through the doors from the First District.

"I can't believe you wanted to wait for Pluto," Donald grilled Goofy, who had a kind of glazed over look about him, "You know as well as I do that if Pluto finds the King, we'll be among the first to know!"

"Hmm-mm," Goofy replied, not really paying attention, "Can we just go and find Le-" he cut off as he tripped over a jutting brick that was one of many that made the opening courtyard of the Second District.

Goofy picked himself off of the ground, rubbing the side of his face that he made the mistake of landing on as Donald covered his face with his palm and shook his head, "Klutz," he said.

"Bitch," Goofy shot back, neither of them really taking offense to their long-time ritual.

"Just how big is this place," Donald said, as he took in the entirety of the District, "The courtyard below us has to go on for at least a hundred feet."

"That's gotta be that Gizmo Shop that Cid were talkin' about," Goofy pointed to the far side of the courtyard at the cathedral-like building, "Why's a place like that gotta be so big?"

"Weren't you listening?" said an irritated Donald, "He said that was also the place where they developed and tested out new technologies, before the Heartless showed up…"

"I don't suppose we'll find Leon there?"

"No, Cid said we should start with the hotel," Donald said, pointing directly to their left, "Said we might find him in the 'Green Room'…let's start there."

Goofy nodded, and they both headed for the double doors, not realizing that someone was walking out the opposite side…

Sora sighed, peering over the banister to the large courtyard below. He figured half of the islands would fit this district alone, never mind the entire town!

He looked over to the cathedral-like building, and checked his map. It said Gizmo Shop, and scrawled next to it were the words_: "Teeming with Heartless. Locals call it 'Suicide Shop' as a bad joke."_

Sora frowned. It was unlikely Riku or Kairi were in there, but he had to check. Maybe they were in trouble, hiding someplace from the Heartless.

The thought of Kairi crouched down in a dark corner in the fetal position, crying, as a looming shadow approached her hiding spot was more than enough to convince Sora to move it double time.

He entered the Gizmo Shop, only pausing to vanquish the Heartless that rose to stop him.

The inside of the Gizmo Shop was a strange place. The floors, walls, and even the ceiling clashed in bright, pastel colors. The Shop took up the space of a single room, a hallway really, that stretched from the door and extended past a bend in the room, causing the rest of the room to be hidden from sight. There were many gauges on some of the walls, most of them not operating, as well as large cogs and gears that hid behind holes in the walls, or behind fenced in areas in the hallway itself, again, most of them were inoperative. The only movement Sora saw was the rotating décor on the walls and floor.

_How could anyone call this a shop?_ Sora wondered as he examined the catwalks above him_, there isn't even a clerk's desk. How do they sell anything in here? And what, exactly, are they selling?_

Not seeing anyone, or anything, Sora called out tentatively, "Hello? Riku? Kairi?"

He took a single step forward, and the Heartless rose, like a predator awaking to kill prey trespassing on its hunting grounds. It hissed at him.

_Only one?_ Sora thought, confused, as he summoned his Keyblade, _but wasn't this place supposed to be swarming with these things?_

The Heartless leaned back, signaling that it was about to go for a scratch. When it swung, Sora dodged deftly, and struck as it slid past him, dispatching it with ease. Sora grinned, but his victory was short-lived.

Not a moment too soon after the last of the black smoke had dissipated than did two Heartless rise up to replace their slain comrade. Sora frowned. It was the first time he had seen any Heartless come after he had defeated any within a certain area.

Sora growled as he took a stance, "As soon as I think I have you freaks figured out, you change the rules on me! Make up your fucking minds!"

He dispatched the two Heartless as easily as the first, but then three rose up, then four, then five.

_How many swarms of these fuckin' things _are_ there?_ Sora wondered_, they just keep coming!_

Finally, after the ninth swarm, Sora stood in the spot where he had slain the last Heartless that came up, panting heavily and leaning on his Keyblade. But nevertheless, Sora kept his eyes open and ears pricked up for any noise. For ten long, agonizing seconds, nothing happened.

"Either I got 'em all," Sora said to no one, "Or they gave up."

Sora figured it was the former. He'd tried running away from the things before, but they just didn't let up. He had to either destroy them or go to another area to truly be rid of them.

He walked slowly across the Shop, wary of any disturbances as he bent over to gather up the potion orbs and munny, as well as some oddly shaped crystal shards of some variety. Sora pocketed them anyways, thinking they might be worth something. But it seemed that he truly had vanquished all of the Heartless in the Shop. For now. Who knew if the Heartless would stay gone, perhaps it was the reason why the Second and Third Districts were uninhabitable.

Around the bend, Sora saw another door leading out of the Gizmo Shop. Curious, he exited and looked around.

It had opened out to the other side of the building, which contained a patio, of sorts. It opened out to poor view of the Second District: cut off by a building across from it. Sora looked down, and saw he was about a single story off the ground. Briefly wondering why there wasn't a fence of some kind, a quick observation revealed holes in the walls on opposite sides, on the alley's side of the building.

Sora ran several scenarios through his head and concluded that it was most likely panic- or injury-based. Either someone was running from the Heartless, or someone was pushed into it, and either way, the fence was ripped out. Sora thought for moment and figured it was most likely the former again, but probably for different reasons.

_Who knows if the swarms really are vanquished? For all I know, the Heartless could be waiting to strike the moment I walk back in, and with stronger numbers_.

Before deciding to move on, Sora took in another round of the patio, and saw the ladder he had missed in favor of the view. A quick glance revealed that the ladder was removed and set against a wall opposite the one it was supposed to occupy.

_Shame,_ Sora thought, _I could've probably staked out on the roof to keep watch for Riku and Kairi._

Sora went back to the drop off and thought out his next move. From what he could see, there was a fancy door at the end of the alleyway, and a door at the far side of the courtyard that he had missed before. He consulted his map. The fancy doors apparently went to a mansion that was built as part of the Gizmo Shop, and exited to and alleyway behind the Hotel, which was where the other door led to.

_All roads lead to the same destination_, Sora never knew the old proverb would have a literal meaning in his life, or the next one that came to mind: _might as well take the road less traveled. I might find Riku or Kairi taking refuge in there._

Sora put the map in his pocket, and best surveyed his choices of getting down without incurring injury. He concluded that it would be better to jump off the edge and then roll, because he could still injure himself climbing down carefully. At least this way he could claim that he did it on purpose.

Laughing grimly, he launched himself from the edge and successfully rolled, almost uncontrollably, as he landed. He winced as he stood up, and grasped the right side of his chest, which only made the pain worse.

"Ah-ahh, I hope that's only cracked," Sora said through clenched teeth. He walked to the double doors, digging in his pockets for a potion. He entered just as someone else exited the Gizmo Shop patio doors…

"I swear I heard fighting," Donald glared at the empty district with narrowed eyes.

Goofy made a non-commental grunt, preferring not to start another argument. The trail was already cold as it was. Trying to see the rest of the district from where he was, he wasn't paying attention when he ran into the loose ladder, making it fall on him.

Donald just shook his head and turned.

Goofy rubbed his head as he stepped out from under the ladder.

"Maybe if I repaired that," Donald realized, "We could see the entire place!"

"What?" Goofy mumbled, more concerned about his head than finding his liege at the moment.

"For once, your clumsiness came in handy," Donald smiled maliciously at Goofy before going through the motions of the spells he needed to repair the ladder with.

"Uh, thanks?" Goofy muttered as he watched the ladder's dents and scrapes fade away, and the paint return to its original aquamarine color.

"Don't mention it," Donald replied sarcastically as he put the ladder back in its original place, "Shall we?"

Goofy sighed, he was always the one who had to test out Donald's magic first. He figured that it had something to do with his "special" relationship with "Murphy's Law," whatever that meant.

If only Leon were in the Hotel, he wouldn't have to do this shit…

Sora exited the other side of the building, sighing. Nothing in there but a pair of napping dogs. He took in a quick look of his surroundings. The alleyway behind the Hotel had a pair of some sort of wading pools behind it, which led to locations unknown behind some metal bars.

"_Zero District refers to the places beyond the walls of Traverse Town,"_ Sora recalled from his discussion with Cid_, "There are many ways to get there, but not a whole lot of people return. Them places are usually swarming with monsters, with very few sanctuaries in between. The fact your friend was able to return from the outskirts and survive is quite an achievement…"_

"So…," Sora said to himself, which was a quickly developing habit, "Those grates could lead to Zero District, and Riku and Kairi could've ended up there, as well…"

Sora jumped down to the water and waded over to the grate. He tried moving the bars, but they wouldn't move.

"Huh…," he looked more closely, "They're loose, but….no way I can bust 'em on my own…."

Sora sighed, and bumped his head against the metal rod_, I guess I can go see Cid again…they might've made it that far by now…if not, then I'll go check out the Third District_.

Sora checked out his map again. _If I head out over this way, then I can get to the First District without having to run through Second District again…._

And with that, Sora ran over to the end the alley, only to see large crates blocking his way. He growled, first Heartless, and now _boxes_? This whole situation was really starting to get on his nerves. He jumped up and grabbed the highest crate, and knocked the smaller one on top of it over with a flying kick as he flipped up onto the crate. There was a loud crash, and Sora looked down to see that he had, in his haste, he had broken the crate and utterly destroyed the contents within.

_Oops…,_ Sora glanced guiltily over his shoulder, _I hope no one saw that…_

And he jumped to the ground once more, stopping only to clear some of the debris to one side. Behind him, he heard a door open.

_Uh-oh,_ Sora cringed_, better make myself scarce!_

He ran around the corner of the building, not knowing that the ones who opened the door weren't looking for him for those reasons…

Goofy had been in his fair share of adventures, but never quite like this…, "This town's too empty. It's kinda spooky, don't'cha think…?"

Donald laughed and thrust his chin high into the air, "Ah, phooey! I'm not scared!"

But at that moment, someone decided to tap him on the shoulder, causing him to yell out and run for the metaphorical hills.

"Oh, wait!" A woman called out, "I didn't mean to scare you!"

Goofy turned to look at her, as Donald poked his head out from the end of the Hotel's wall, "Then why didn't you say anything, you…," he screamed foul names at the woman, who simply gave him an amused look.

"Who're you?" Goofy asked politely.

"My name is Aerith," the brunette replied, bowing her head, but never taking her green eyes off of either of them. _She's been trained_, Goofy noticed, _Rule #1: Never take your eyes off your opponent._

Aerith rose and addressed both of them, "And, if you don't mind my asking, but did the King send you?"

Mayhem. That one word was the best descriptor of what awaited Sora as he ran out from the alley behind the Item Shop, to the walkway overlooking the First District's courtyard.

Almost everyone Sora had met so far, and others that Sora had never seen before, were in the midst of _fighting Heartless!_

Tidus jumped and weaved through the sea of darkness, apparently having made the same discoveries Sora had about the Heartless' attack patterns, but he was better at making sure that the Heartless behind him didn't get any sneak attacks. Watching him fight was like watching a hurricane passing through.

Xynbad was nothing but flashes of steel, his fighting style was not as flashy or as acrobatic as Tidus's, but it was almost twice as effective. A single slash of his dual katanas wiped an entire group of Heartless. And also unlike Tidus, he actually seemed to be enjoying his fight against the monsters, his face stretched into a large grin as he challenged the Heartless with a deafening roar.

Up in the balcony over her restaurant was a grim-faced Allei, pointing her fist at groups of Heartless at random, which exploded into the black smoke they left behind with a loud _rat-a-tatatatatatatat_! A man in a black, skeleton-decorated hoody and orange hair, and a woman in a blue blouse and pink hair both held guns in their hands, but they shot something that wasn't quite bullets, but something colorful that was either arrow- or shuriken-shaped. And as Sora watched, the orange-haired man took the sucker out of his mouth, and tossed it at the Heartless, resulting in a large explosion that wiped out several tens of Heartless in a flash. By the time Sora looked back at the man, he had already popped another lollipop in his mouth.

Cid was also among the fray, eliminating the black creatures with extreme prejudice, screaming, "You're bad for business, freaks!"

A very large man in a white suit and dreadlocks was also fighting the Heartless, yelling something about culinary practices as he swung his boulder-sized fists.

"What the fuck…?" Sora eyes widened at the spectacle before him, "Why are the Heartless in the First District? I thought it was supposed to be safe!"

"Because they followed you here," a cold voice said from off from Sora's right.

Sora turned to look at him. His piercing, blue eyes glared at Sora from beneath his brown bangs. A weapon that was a mix of both a gun and sword rested on a leather-clad shoulder, almost obscured by his fur-lined collar.

"What? You're crazy! I fight the Heartless, not help them out!"

"So long as you wield that Keyblade," the young man with the scarred face pointed at the weapon with a gloved hand, "The Heartless will seek you out, causing chaos wherever you go. What you hold there is a double edged sword. The perfect weapon against the darkness is also the perfect magnet for it."

_What?_ Sora glanced over at the courtyard, _I caused this?_

"Now hand it over," The man approached him, denim rasping as he took a single step forward.

"What?" Sora replied, flustered, "B-but I-!"

"Give it to me before something worse happens to these people!" the youth replied more aggressively.

Sora growled, "There's no way you're getting this! If I caused this, then I need to help them!"

"Fine…, have it your way," the young man pointed his weapon at Sora and fired.

~Second District-END~

**Yeah, I know, in the game the First District was deserted when the Heartless invaded it, but I always thought "Bullshit! Somebody else is gotta be there fighting those things off! There are FOUR FF characters inhabiting the town, for crying out loud!" And this thought was reinforced when I found out that TWEWY characters could have possibly inhabiting Traverse Town when that happened. Lollipop and Pinky, at the very least, would rise to the challenge…if only to find out who was buying the bowls of ramen. I love those two…watching them is like watching Gimli and Legolas in Two Towers XD**

**Those of you who are sharper than the average knife has most likely realized by now that I will be adding The World Ends With You characters to Kingdom Hearts' already exhaustive cast…but I ain't stopping there! XD**

**I will be taking characters out of the standard FF VII through X range and plopping them face-first into Disney worlds, and I am changing up the Vale of Villains line-up. Don't worry, most of them are the same guys, but that's what happens when you start messing with the original stories of each world.**

**I will also be introducing another band of villain misfits into this story to mess with Sora and Co., as well as the Vale XD **

**Who are they? Weeeelll, here's a hint: they already exist in another FF game, but I won't reveal anything else other than that there's five of 'em XD**

**I also mentioned there will be a lemon-scented chapter soon…and with the majority of my TT cast revealed…I'll just let you guys guess. C'mon, tell me who you think is getting some! Free brownie point to who ever guesses it right first! I bet I'll get some pretty interesting answers ;) **

**Please leave your interesting or creative answers in the reviews link below!**

**Alright, kiddies, it's time for Dr. K to run away for awhile, keep your friends close, your Keyblade steady, and die with your mask on if you've got to…here is my farewell.**

**(Brownie points if you got those last two refs XD)**

**P.S. Sorry for the delay guys…truth be told I had this up and ready to post for nearly two weeks, but I didn't 'cause I was busy with school stuff. -_-;;**

**I'll try to be a little more on the gun about posting the stories from here on out, but no promises. Quite personally, I'd much rather make good grades than write something that I'm not even getting paid for doing.**

**I'll try to get the next chapter in by the end of the month, but again, school's higher up on the priority list than fanfictioning.**

**Ok, for reals this time, I'm leaving. Have a nice night, ya'll.**


	7. TT Arc: Leon

**Good Evening everyone, this is KHVeteran**

**Unfortunately, I had to cut this chapter short because it was getting a little long-winded…**

**Anyhoos, mini-boss time!**

**Enjoy!**

~Traverse Town Arc: Chapter 5: Leon~

"Fine, have your way," the youth said, and fired his weapon.

Half-panicked, Sora leaped over the banister separating him from the courtyard. He landed on a group of Heartless, which were surprisingly solid for something made out of darkness.

_Maybe this wasn't such a great idea,_ Sora winced as he cut a swath through the dark beings, trying his utmost to put as much distance between him and the crazy guy as possible, _talk about from the frying pan into the fire!_

The man leapt from his previous position to several feet in front of Sora, cutting down all the Heartless in the immediate area in which he landed.

"Leon!" Allei's voice called from the balcony, "What the hell are you doing? Get the Heartless, not Sora!"

"Less talking, more shooting, grandma!" came another female voice from above Sora. He guessed it was the ink haired woman he saw there before.

"Grandma?" Allei exclaimed, "You watch your mouth you f-"

"Maaaaa~an," came a languid male voice barely unheard over the two women's cursing, "A cat fight within five feet of me was _not_ what I signed up for."

Meanwhile, Sora kept fighting through the Heartless, trying to get away from the man—apparently named Leon—but he kept firing those damnable fireballs at him. While they did hit the Heartless more than him, he did strike a lucky hit every now and then, sending Sora flying several feet.

It wasn't until the sixth fireball that Sora noticed that it took Leon a long charge period to ready his attack. A crazy idea began to form in the back of Sora's mind, crazy enough to work. Sora ducked around the big guy "dicing" and "mincing" the Heartless to observe Leon's technique.

He was right! The fireball that Leon fired took a while to charge and while he did, he never moved his body or the sights of his weapon as the fire journeyed from the revolver to the tip of the blade, before firing out and striking it's target.

Sora blocked the fireball, feeling the heat of the flames just barely licking his skin. He grinned, I know how to get around his attack now! Once again, he had proven that knowledge of his enemy was the ultimate weapon in a fight!

Sora continued to fight the Heartless, which had noticeably dimmed in number since the beginning of the fight, while keeping a close eye on Leon.

They locked eyes and time seemed to slow down. Sora saw Leon raise his sword, and he began his charge. Locking his Keyblade like a lance, Sora watched the charge closely, knowing that as weak as he was, he couldn't take another hit from one of those fireballs. He had to time this right, or it was all over.

Leon fired, the recoil knocking his weapon back. The fireball came towards Sora in slow motion, the ball of red light crackling merrily as it bewitched his sight. As the heat began to warm his face, a voice yelled from somewhere in the back of his mind, _Jump, idiot!_

He followed its advice, leaping over the fireball. Time began to speed up as Leon's eyes widened in surprise, but then narrowed as both he and Sora realized that he was too far away. But before Leon could take his stance once more, a voice came from behind and above him.

"Get off my turf, you jerk!" Tidus challenged, as he brought his father's blade down to bear on Leon's unprotected back.

Leon reacted quickly, turning and blocking Tidus's blow, but it was more than enough of a distraction for Sora to make a strike against Leon's legs, right behind his knee. That blow, combined with Tidus's weight, brought Leon to his knees.

Sora followed his blow up with a swing to Leon's head, and Tidus kicked him in the chest.

Sora smirked, "Now you're gonna-"

But he was cut off by a sharp pain to the back of his neck. He reached up and dug the object out of his neck.

He tried to look at it, but his eyesight had gone fuzzy all of the sudden_. It looks like…like a..,_ Sora thought, his mind all fuzzy. Distantly, he heard Tidus fall to the ground, sword clattering.

Then it hit him, _I got hit…with some sort of…sleeping agent…,_ Sora thought as the world slowly turned sideways_, I…gotta stay…awake….I got…to…_

Right before the world went black, he heard a familiar voice call his name.

Sora fell beside Tidus, the shuriken rolling out of his hand.

Yuffie ran to Squall—Leon! _Leon!_ She had to get that straight!—to give him a potion.

"You're slipping, you eejit!" She slapped his face.

Leon shoved her gently off of him, "I went easy on him."

He took a look around the suddenly cleared First District. Yuffie's response time, as usual, was impeccable. The citizens were still looking around, searching for their suddenly disappeared enemies.

"Let's get him out of here," Leon got up, resting his gunblade on his shoulder, "Before things get ugly again. No telling how long it'll take the Heartless to find him again."

"Roger!" Yuffie saluted in a mock "at attention" stance…on her tip-toes, before running off to fetch the young boy.

She picked up the weapon, "So this is a Keyblade, huh?"

She swung it experimentally, but it disappeared in a flash of light and reappeared near the kid's right hand, "Guess the legends are true, huh?"

Leon walked up; narrow, thoughtful eyes stared at the boy from either side of his scar, "He's so young," he said softly, "Was Terra that young when he first obtained the Keyblade?"

Yuffie blinked, she'd never heard Leon talk that way about another person, "Leon?"

He blinked and walked off, "Pick him up and bring him with us, don't worry about the weapon. Judging from what just happened, it'll stick with him even if we leave it here."

"Yeah," Yuffie said, eyebrows knitted in concern. She picked up the boy's sleeping form, and hurried after her childhood friend.

_A light shone in the darkness, a golden starburst that bore Sora through…somewhere. The light brightened, flashed, and he found himself floating in a courtyard in front of a grandiose castle. Large fountains of water came over the city walls in the distance, adding to the beauty of the place._

_A young, red-headed girl walked hand in hand with a woman whose age was impossible to tell, somewhere between the age of physical peak and the beginning of great wisdom. Her long platinum-blonde hair has bound up in a top knot. The younger girl was in a white sundress, the elder in a blue dress, walking down the steps from the castle._

"_Tell me the story, grandma!" the little girl piped up, prompting a chuckle from the older woman, "Again, dear?"_

"_Yes, grandma, please?"_

_The woman laughed again._

"Long ago,

People lived peacefully in the United World,

Bathed in the warmth of Light.

Everyone loved the Light.

Then people began to fight over it.

They wanted to keep it for themselves.

And Darkness was born in their Hearts.

The Darkness spread,

Swallowing the Light and many people's Hearts.

It covered everything, and the World disappeared.

But small fragments of Light survived,

In the Hearts of Seven Children.

With these fragments of Light,

These Children rebuilt the lost World.

It's the World we live in now.

But the True Light sleeps,

Deep within the Darkness.

That's why the Worlds are still scattered,

Divided from each other.

But someday,

A door to the Innermost Darkness will open,

And the True Light will return.

So, listen, Child.

Even in the Deepest Darkness,

There will always be a Light to guide you.

Believe in the Light,

And the Darkness will never defeat you.

Your Heart will shine with its power

And push the Darkness away."

_The girl and the woman both disappeared down the steps, and Sora made to follow them, but then he felt a presence behind him. He turned and saw the silhouette of a tall woman, with a bobbed hair style, and a huge rack. The shade lifted an object in her hands to look at it, and spoke something. Sora never heard her voice, but he somehow knew what she said:_

"_Somehow, I don't think I met her by accident."_

_And with that the dream faded to white fog, and the familiar voice called to him again._

"C'mon, you lazy bum, wake up!"

Sora opened his eyes and sat up, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Are you okay?" The female voice asked.

Sora looked up, "Kairi?"

"_Kairi?_ Who're you talking about? _I'm_ the great ninja Yuffie!"

"What?"

Leon stood in the empty Red Room. What was taking Aerith so long? Surely she had found the King's subjects by now.

He shook his head, no point in worrying about it now.

His thoughts returned, once again to the Keyblade wielder. He wondered what had made the Keyblade choose that kid over someone more experienced, and preferably older. But still, he got around his defenses, and contrary to what he said to Yuffie, he had underestimated him. Not only had he beaten him, but he had taken out over a half of the Heartless swarm while he was at it.

He tried to think Terra being that young, but it was impossible. The image of his savior was too well embedded in his brain.

_Squall watched as the last of the dark flames from the-Unversed, is that what the man had called them?—disappeared. The man turned and offered his hand, "Are you okay?" he asked._

_Squall nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes._

"_What's your name?" The man knelt to look at Leon._

"_Sq-Squall Leonhart."_

"_Nice to meet you, Squall, I'm Terra."_

_Squall looked into the man's blue eyes in wonder._

"_You should learn how to protect yourself," Terra said as he stood up, "This town's dangerous right now, especially for kids like you."_

_And with that, the man ran off to chase the giant Unversed that had come down this street not too long ago._

_Squall stood up and nodded, the image of Terra's retreating form burning itself into his memories._

Once more_, Squall thought, _I'll go ask the Ex-SeeD general to apprentice me once more_._

_A year later, Squall was walking through the city. Lea and Isa were off doing something mischievous again, and didn't have time to spar with him. The city guard considered him a nuisance, at best. And the Unversed had up and gone forever ago._

_Bored out of his skull, he began to patrol the city, but didn't have a particular route in mind._

_Squall was about to call it quits, when he saw a familiar figure in a lab coat walking with one of the city guard, Braig._

"_Terra? Terra!" Squall called, but received no response from either figure._

_He ran out to in front of the two patrolling men._

"_Terra!" He tried to greet the man, but received no response, "Did you dye your hair or something?"_

"_Hey, Xehanort, you know this kid?" Braig asked the man, while shooting "piss off" looks at Squall._

_The silver-haired youth stared at Squall, but it was apparent by his expression that Terra had no recollection of him._

"_Remember me? I was that kid you saved from the Unversed a year ago! You told me to learn how to defend myself, so I didn't rest until my master agreed to teach me how to use the gunblade! I've become very powerful since then!"_

"_I applaud your efforts," the man said, "But I'm afraid you must have confused me with somebody else. My name is Xehanort, not Terra. And if you'll excuse me, I have experiments to conduct."_

_Shocked, Squall was only half-aware of the two men passing him by._

_He turned and started to say something, but then he was blinded by a bright, purple light, and then he saw nothing._

~Leon-END~

**Aaaaaaannnd that's how Leon gets his scar in KHNoir! Meanie Braig! :(**

**Next chapter: Leon's reminiscing continues! Just how did the Heartless' siege on Hollow Bastion go? Get his account next chapter! Stay tuned for more Kingdom Hearts Noir!**

**….**

**Sorry, guess I channeled the DBZ narrator there for a minute…**

**Anyhoos, while you're waiting for the next chapter, I'd like to bring to your attention the stand-alone I wrote as a tribute for St. Valetine's Day, called Sweet Hearts. It's PencexOlette, and yes, it is a Lemon. Fair Warning.**

**Speaking of lemons, it looks like that lemon I promised won't happen 'til at least Chapter 8 or 9 (Arc-wise. The respective directory chapters will prolly be 10 or 11.) **

**Sorry! -.-;;;**

**Anywhos me and my gf will be launching a new project later starring our OC Nobodies. The story has an almost completely OC cast, it's slightly AU, and the story will take place vaguely KHCoM-II timeline. Look forward to it! Or behind…or to the right…doesn't really matter. Just look out for it XD**

**I don't think I stuck any refs in this chap, so free brownie points to everyone, just because! Yay! (I'm so weird….but at least I'm not boring!)**

**Bye ya'll! See ya next chapter!**

**P.S. KHVeteran.**

**What? I couldn't find a way to say that and put my handle in it!**


	8. TT Arc: Siege of Darkness

**Good Evening, this is KHVeteran.**

**Whew! Leon's Flashback Part 2 is finished! (Obviously titled something else…)**

**This chapter will conclude the siege on Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion and we will return to our regularly scheduled program next chapter XD**

**I stuffed one of my surprise Final Fantasy characters in here, hope you like my decision**

**Enjoy!**

**EDIT:**

**Sorry for taking so long! Midterms are a nightmare, and as an apology, I am posting not only these two chapters, but I am posting my new project as well, Nova Fata.**

**Please go check it out!**

**I hope you enjoy this Kingdom Hearts explosion!**

~Traverse Town Arc: Chapter 6: Siege of Darkness~

He woke up to the sound of screaming. Radiant Garden was under attack!

Squall rolled himself off the bed, not really caring who had put him there or why. Only stopping to grab his gunblade, he rushed outside to find chaos.

Black creatures he would later discover to be Heartless were swarming all over the gardens.

"Master!" Squall called, but received no response. Gritting his teeth he ran into the fray to see if there was anyone still left alive. He instinctively knew that at this point, there was no way he was going to save the city, but he would be damned if he didn't try to save anyone.

Squall kept running through the city, ignoring all the Heartless except for the ones that got in his way until he heard the sounds of fighting. He followed the noise to its source: a young girl standing on top of a large crate, throwing shurikens at any dark creature who dared to come any closer.

"Come with me!" Squall called, "There's no point in trying to kill them all, the city's overrun!"

"I'm not going anywhere!" The girl shot back, "I'm not leaving my-"

Before she could finish, an explosion rocked the top level of a nearby pagoda, raining fire and debris on their location. A middle-aged man landed to Squall's right, dressed in traditional Wutai garb, and a dark figure landed directly across from him.

"These blasted creatures seem to have taken on the form of our guard," the old man said, and the Squall recognized the figure: it was Braig, "I fear for the worse. Yuffie, leave this place! It is no longer safe for anyone to be here."

The young girl, Yuffie, shook her head vehemently, "No, father! I'm not going anywhere without you!"

"Foolish girl!" the man chastised her, "Leave! This isn't a training exercise, you can die here, and I'll be damned if I let that happen."

Yuffie stamped her foot, "No! I'm going to stay and fight! This is my home, too, old man!"

"Young man!" Yuffie's father addressed Squall, "Carry my daughter out of here! Knock her out if you have to!"

Squall nodded, and grabbed Yuffie around the waist, tucking her under his arm and running down a nearby alley. It wasn't easy, she clawed and kicked and punched and bit, trying to anything to make him let go of her. Squall ignored it all, more worried about the Heartless in front of him.

Suddenly, another explosion rocked them from behind, sending them flying. It didn't take long for Squall to recover, and it wasn't long until Yuffie came to as well.

"Father!" Yuffie called out, and tried to run back to him, but Squall grabbed her wrist, "Let me go! He could be dead! Please! I need to go to him!"

Squall pulled her closer, and backhanded her with his other hand, shocking her into listening to him, "Your father might have just given his life to make sure you got away! And now you want to throw that away? Do you really think you're the only person to have lost friends or family in this attack? Are you really that selfish? The only people we can rely on right now is each other, and we'll lose that, too, if we don't get the hell out of dodge!"

She didn't respond, but she didn't try to fight him either. Not trusting her for a second, he never let go of her as he searched for his gunblade. He finally found it, hilt sticking out from under a pile of roofing singles the blast had knocked lose.

Weapon recovered, he charged further out of the city, listening for the telltale signs of a struggle. It wasn't long before he heard the report of a pistol…wait. Make that three pistols firing simultaneously. Squall had never heard of such a weapon before, but it was enough for him to go investigate.

"This way!" He called to Yuffie, who was still following him, amazingly enough. He turned down the alleyway, and back into another large swarm of Heartless, which were all attacking two people standing back to back: a tall man with mid-length jet black hair in a suit and a blond-headed kid, about Squall's age, awkwardly using an antique zweihander to ward off the dark beings.

One of them got hit, and Squall saw a cure spell come from above and heal the blow. Following the trajectory, Squall was able to trace it back to a young brunette in a white and pink dress who was fighting off the occasional Heartless with an old, metal quarterstaff.

He pulled back into the alley and turned to face his comrade, "Yuffie, can you do something for me? Yuffie, you listening?" he tried to get her attention by grabbing her shoulders, and she nodded solemnly, "I need you to run up on the rooftops and get that girl to join us by the main gate, think you can do that for me?"

Yuffie nodded and ran up the wall, grabbing the ledge and free-running towards the girl. Squall felt a twinge of guilt, he was supposed to be looking out for her, but there was little else he could do. Gritting his teeth, he charged into the sea of darkness.

"Hey!" Squall called, "Get out of there!"

The blond spared him a glance, but didn't stop fighting off the Heartless, "I'm not giving up my home! Not to these things, not to anyone!"

The other man shot the blond an exasperated look with his red eyes, "We have to leave if we intend to live," he said with a soft voice but they all heard nonetheless.

Squall eradicated the Heartless in front of him and grabbed the blond by his shirt, "Take a look around you! Radiant Garden is lost! The only chance we have is to run and live to fight another day!

"Or do you not care whether you live or die?"

The boy flushed, but before he could muster a retort, Vincent pistol whipped him in the head.

"What are you-"

"You'd rather he'd die?" the man said, "Better to drag him out than to leave him for dead."

Squall wanted to argue, but more Heartless rose out of the ground and he nodded, "You better not let that slow you down!"

"It won't," the man replied, "The Central Square's not too far away. If we take roads to avoid our enemies, we can be there faster than if we try to fight our way through them."

"Lead the way," Squall replied, "I'm Squall."

"Vincent," was the reply.

"You're a member of the Turks, aren't you?" Squall asked, referencing a Shinra-sponsored elite mercenary corps that populated the Midgar Route.

The man's smile was barely hidden by the boy's unconscious body.

_I'll take that as a yes_, Squall thought.

It wasn't long before they got to the Central Square, at which they stopped to survey they eerily quiet area.

"I don't like it," Squall said in hushed tones.

Vincent nodded, "It's a trap."

"We need a way around," Squall started scanning the bailey walls for a possible means over.

Vincent shook his head, "It's the only way in. There's only one way to the Outer Gardens from here," he pointed at the large opening in the Bailey.

"Which is why they laid an ambush, but where will it come from?"

Vincent remained silent.

It was shortly after that that Squall saw Yuffie and her newfound friend approaching the Square from the opposite side. He tried to wave them away, but they didn't see them.

"Yuffie! Get _away_!" Leon said in tones as hushed as before.

Vincent looked up, and fired in their direction. The shots ricocheted off the corner of a building closest to Yuffie's head.

"Are you crazy?" Leon said, barely keeping his voice in check.

"They retreated," Vincent said, "And now, we see our enemy."

He pointed, and Leon looked to see that a giant Heartless had risen while he wasn't looking.

It was different from any of the others that Leon had seen so far. Not only was it large, but it also colored purple and dark pink all over its body in zigzagged shapes, and black near its feet, and possessed a red and black emblem on its chest as well. It walked on four, powerful legs, had a massive under bite with tusks that rose into a heart shape over its head, and a single horn rose from on top its head, as if to pierce the figurative object.

Squalls knees suddenly felt weak. The creature's head turned to look at him and Vincent and roared an ungodly sound that shouldn't belong to creatures that roamed in the daylight. Squall didn't know he had even fallen to his knees until Vincent started attempting to drag him up.

_How are we supposed to fight that thing?_ Squall thought with what facilities weren't plugged up by fear, _It's impossible. We're never going to win against that thing._

Vincent had pulled Squall to look at him. He was yelling something he couldn't hear through the ringing of his ears. When Squall didn't respond, Vincent shook him violently.

"…self together, Squall! We're never going to get out of here if we don't work together!"

The monster made a grunting noise as a large shuriken bounced off its head. The object clattered loudly somewhere near them.

Squall located the throwing star not far from his feet, "…how we're supposed to fight something that Wutai steel can't even pierce?"

Vincent shoved him away and ran at it, shooting at the creature's chest.

Squall looked on, eyes wide with fear as the man and two women tried to unsuccessfully fend off the creature.

"Squall!" He heard Yuffie's voice, "Toss me my shuriken!"

Yuffie…, Leon had a responsibility for her. He did drag her away from her father after all. He had to get up….

He had to _fight_!

With a cry, Squall ran towards the behemoth. He threw Yuffie her weapon of choice, which he had grabbed along the way, and jumped on the giant Heartless's back. It tried to shake him off, but Squall grabbed a fistful of….whatever it was that the thing was covered in, and managed to hang on. It launched ahead and stopped, trampling the people below. When it stopped, Squall shot ahead. Flying through the air, Squall swung his blade in an attempt to hit the creature, and succeeded in striking its horn.

At first, Squall thought he was unsuccessful in harming it, but as he started to pull himself from the ground, the creature let out a scream of pain.

"The horn!" Squall yelled, "Strike the horn!"

The monster lowered its head down, and it looked like it was about to charge him, but Vincent came around the creature's side and started firing at rate impossible for a pistol. Squall spared Vincent a glance as he got up to see that the marksman had traded out his pistol for a three-barreled machine gun.

Between the four of them, they finally managed to bring the creature to heel, but not before all of them had suffered immense damage and Aerith had run out of Ethers to keep her healing spells coming.

Squall doubled over, using his gunblade for support. Yuffie, Vincent, and the girl Squall had heard the other two call "Aerith."

They wandered through the Entryway, Vincent and Squall both carrying the boy he had learned to call "Cloud."

"I don't think I can go through another fight like that," Yuffie whined.

Squall looked up to reply but saw something that made him stop.

Standing in the exit of the city, a silver-haired man in a long white lab coat was holding a little red-haired girl up with one arm. The girl seemed to have passed out a long time ago, but the man was casting some sort of spell over her.

She disappeared in a flash of light, and the man made a low, laughing sound, "Now, Princess, you will someday lead me to the one that wields the Key."

The man turned, causing Squall to make an involuntary gasp, "Terra!"

A woman appeared from behind the man with the yellow eyes. She looked very odd, Squall thought. What skin wasn't covered by her low-cut dress was green-tinted; her long jet black hair was parted only by the twin ram's horns that framed her face. She walked sensuously around the man, leaned up against him and crossed her sleeved arms, which did very interesting things to her large breasts.

"Friends of yours, Ansem?" The woman asked as she gently touched his cheek with long fingers that ended in lavender painted nails.

"I have no friends from this world, Maleficent," The man turned away from her touch, "Kill them," he finished and vanished in a flash of darkness, and with him, the remains of Squall's shattered heart.

The woman, obviously Maleficent, made a huffing noise and gossamer dragonfly wings flared from behind her, "I do _not_ take orders, least of all from you!"

She exhaled, "However, you lot are responsible for the destruction of the majority of my Heartless. For that, I will pay you back in kind…unless you are willing to work for me?"

"Why would we want to do that?" Yuffie challenged.

"Foolish child, I am offering you a chance to live," Maleficent laughed cruelly, raising her hand to cover her mouth, "Only a fool would refuse such a deal!"

"Then I guess we're all fools then," Vincent rose his weapon.

"You dare to challenge me?" Maleficent jutted her chin up, "You can barely stand."

"Good thing they have a fresh fighter then," came a voice from Squall's right.

He looked over to see that Cloud had woken up, and an empty vial of Remedy was in Vincent's hand.

Squall shot him a look and got a wink in response.

Cloud unsheathed his Zweihandler, and took up a stance, "So, you're the one responsible for this? Glad I've had a chance to meet you. Now I'll never rest until I kill you!"

Maleficent sighed, "If you insist. Seems such a waste to kill you…Oh, I know! I'll turn you all into Heartless! That way, I'll be rid of you and get new servants in the process."

She shot them an evil grin and took to the skies, summoning a bronze staff that was crowned with a large emerald sphere.

"Stars of Shemhazai, unleash thine fury!" the witch cried, summoning a volley of dark meteorites to rain down on her enemies.

Squall leapt out of the way, _There _has_ to be a way to reach her_. Vincent shot at her, but a protective barrier sparked and flashed with every successive hit.

"Get clear!" an unfamiliar voice sounded over some sort of intercom.

Squall and his friends soon learned why, as barrage of missiles bombarded the witch. Judging from the sound she made, she felt that.

"Get the fuck over here before I leave you lot here!" the man's voice came from a large ship that lowered itself close to the bridge separating the Entryway from the Outer Gardens, causing a gust of dust and garbage to fly up and blind Squall and his comrades.

"C'mon!" Squall yelled over the noise, waving his friends on.

He ran past the smoke in which Maleficent coughing and a blue light shot out of the ship which caused Squall to feel a pulling motion. Suddenly Squall found himself on the bridge of the interior of the ship, several flashes later and all of his friends were on board.

"Gawdamn, that teleporter shit actually works!" came the stranger's voice from behind a wheel that belonged on an ancient sailing vessel, not a high-tech airship, "Name's Cid Highwind, and welcome aboard my Gummi Ship, the Shira!"

"A what ship?" Yuffie exclaimed.

"Gummi Ship!" Cid smirked from around his cigarette, "For travelling in interspace!"

Squall watched his world shrink from view from the ship's large viewing port. He brooded over the recent changes in his role model. There was no way that man was Terra, he had been consumed by the man called Ansem. He had to free him from that man's influence, but he'd never be able to do it as Squall. Squall would sooner run from a fight with a large, intimidating Heartless than fight it. Squall was weak and would never make the cut.

The argument that was ensuing behind him finally brought itself towards his direction.

"Hey, you!" Cid called, "What's your name?"

"Oh, he's-" Yuffie began, but was cut off by her friend's curt reply, "Leon."

The friends who had all fought beside him turned to look at him strangely, "My name's Leon."

"Well, Leon, care to clear things up for us?" Cid asked, "Where's this mate of yours that your friends keep nagging about, Clue, Charles?"

"Cloud?" Leon looked around, but didn't see him, "I imagine he took an opportunity to strike Maleficent down instead of running for his life."

"I agree," Vincent said, "But he'll survive."

"I hope you're right…," Yuffie said in a worried tone.

His friends all turned and started asking Cid questions.

Leon continued to watch his world disappear from view, only when he could not distinguish it from the surrounding stars did he tear his eyes away.

"I think you hit him too hard, Leon!" Yuffie called, breaking Leon out of his reverie.

He walked back into the Green Room to speak to the boy who possessed the only weapon that could possibly save them.

~Siege of Darkness-END~

**Did my description of Maleficent surprise ya'll? I'll bet you were expecting a hag, huh? XDDDD**

**I never fully got why Disney decided to portray her like that, I mean if I were the Dark Fairy who possessed power over dreams and was a sorceress in my free time, I would FIND a way to make my immortality beautiful!**

**I love how all my characters are developing! They are full of surprises, aren't they? XD**

**I have decided on a line-up on the Vale of Villains and most of the worlds have been set up with their own plotlines. It's so exciting! Just wait 'til you guys see what I've done to Wonderland, and who it's Villain is! That's right…Wonderland has a Vale Villain in KHNoir, but don't worry I won't reveal who it is yet XD**

**Anyhoos, I got to go work on another project now.**

**See ya laters, alligators!**

** ~KHVeteran**


	9. TT Arc: Discussion

**Good Evening, this is KHVeteran.**

…**.Nothing much to say here, see ya at the Afternote!**

**Enjoy!**

~Traverse Town Arc: Chapter 7: Discussion~

"You!" Sora jumped up and tried to summon his Keyblade.

He was pushed back into the bed and had a knife at his throat before he even knew what happened.

"Calm down!" Yuffie yelled to get Sora's undivided attention, "We just want to talk."

"And I'm supposed to believe that after your friend over there," Sora said, doing his best to indicate Leon, "Tried to kill me?"

"Leon may not be one to tell you what he's up to," Yuffie poked the underside of Sora's jaw with her weapon, "But the two of you have common goals. And like it or not, you need allies to help you fight the Heartless."

"Somehow I don't think I'm going to find them in this room," Sora glared at his captor.

"We needed to conceal your heart," Leon spoke up, "Otherwise we wouldn't be able to talk without the Heartless interrupting us every five seconds."

"Yeah, right," Sora scoffed.

"It's true," Yuffie said, flicking her knife under his chin to get him to look at her again, "You were so quick to trust everybody else in town, how about giving us the same treatment?"

"Because you obviously can't be trusted!" Sora spat, "Allei, Cid, and Xynbad all offered me help in exchange for nothing! But your friend there comes up to me and tries to take my only weapon without telling me who he is or what he's up to? And, to top it off, when I refuse to do as he wishes, he attacks me!"

Leon crossed his arms, "The First District was crawling in Heartless, what was I supposed to do? There wasn't any time to be friendly."

Then Sora suddenly remembered the First District, "Is everyone alright?"

Leon blinked, he wasn't expecting such a reaction from this kid, "Yeah, the Heartless disappeared once you were knocked out."

It was Sora's turn to blink, "What?"

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade," Leon said, "That's why they'll keep on coming after you, no matter what. Wherever you go, events like those we had tonight are bound to happen again and again."

"What made them leave?"

"The combination of both the Keyblade leaving your possession and Yuffie knocking you out with tranquilizer," Leon said, unaware of the twitch Yuffie just had, "But it won't fool them much longer, which is why we need you to calm down so we can all talk like rational people."

Sora closed his eyes in thought for a while and then said, "Fine, but no promises as to what I'll do after."

"Fair enough," Leon made a gesture with his arm, and Yuffie withdrew her blade. Sora sat up and was surprised to see that his Keyblade had been knocked to the other side of the room.

Yuffie followed his gaze and apologized, explaining that "The Heartless would catch on quicker if he was holding it."

"You know how there's different worlds right?" Yuffie continued on to another subject without skipping a beat, leaving Sora confused for a moment, "More than this Town, and wherever you came from, anyways."

"Uh, no," Sora said, "But I always sort of suspected that was the case."

"Well, we're having sort of a problem. See, to most people, these worlds are distant and unconnected, and they used to be until the Heartless arrived," Yuffie explained, "The barriers between worlds are breaking down, and they're disappearing, one by one."

"How do you know that?" Sora interrupted.

It was Leon who picked up the slack, "Haven't you been watching the night sky? Every night there are fewer of them. And the Heartless are the cause."

"And the only weapon that can destroy them is called the Keyblade," Yuffie picked back up.

"Why?"

"The Heartless are the darkness given form," Leon replied, "They prey upon anyone who has darkness in their heart, which is to say 'everyone', and then, they too, become Heartless. The Keyblade is the only weapon that can destroy them because it is a manifestation of the wielder's heart, which is made of both light and darkness."

"But you guys can destroy Heartless, too!" Sora shook his head, "I've seen you do it!"

"Yeah," Yuffie said, "But our weapons only cause temporary change. Whenever we destroy Heartless, the heart bound within simply goes back to the Realm of Darkness to be born as a Heartless again. But the Keyblade destroys the darkness's hold on the heart, which releases it!"

"That's what you meant by a double-edged sword!" Sora's jaw dropped.

Leon nodded, and leaned against the door adjoining the two rooms.

"Say, have you ever head of guy named Ansem?" Yuffie asked suddenly, and Leon stiffened for a moment.

Sora noticed, but didn't say anything about it, opting to ask about it later, "…No. And in a community as small as mine, everybody knows just about everybody."

Yuffie sighed in disappointment, "He was researching the Heartless. He put all of his findings in a very detailed report."

"Do you have any of it?" Sora asked and Leon shook his head, "Its pages have been scattered to many different worlds. Though, Yuffie and I think an individual in what's left of our home world has most of the pages."

They sat in silence for a while, and Sora gripped his head, "Dammit! Ever since those damn creatures showed up, my life has been one hell after another! And I didn't ask to be given that fucking Keyblade!"

"The Keyblade chooses its master," Yuffie said silently, "And it chose you. Now the real question is, will you live up to the responsibility or forsake it?"

"Cid told me you were looking for your friends," Leon said, "And legend has it that Keyblade wielders have the ability to travel to other worlds, which, in all honesty, is where your friends probably are."

Sora took a deep breath, "It's just so much to take in all at one time, y'know? It's been barely a day since my world got destroyed and now you're throwing all this shit at me."

"I know," Leon said, "We've all been through the same thing."

Sora stood up, "Yeah, sorry."

"There's nothing to apologize for!" Yuffie waved her hands.

There was a sound from outside, something Sora didn't recognize.

Leon stood up straight and grabbed his gunblade, "Damn, we're out of time!"

He turned to Sora, "Are you ready?"

Sora nodded and summoned his Keyblade.

"I'll tell Aerith!" Yuffie said as she sped off into the other room, pulling a cell phone out of her pocket as she did so.

An unfamiliar creature portalled into the room, but Sora had no doubt it was a Heartless. But it didn't look like any Heartless he had seen so far: it was taller and more colorful than the others, with emblem of a heart with the point ended in a fleur-de-lis point and a cross within that had thorn points. Its body was more human-like, but it was colored dark blue and its head and hands were armored.

Leon shoved the creature through the hotel's window, which almost covered up a loud quacking sound as Yuffie ran into the next room. Sora ignored it. He had more pressing matters on his mind.

"Sora, let's go!" Leon called as he ran out onto the balcony. Sora nodded and followed him.

Sora was itching for a fight, but Leon said to leave the "small fry" alone.

"We got to find the leader!" Leon called, not realizing his long legs was leaving Sora in the dust.

"Damn," Sora gritted his teeth as two of the new Heartless blocked his path. He made one sweep with his Keyblade to knock them out of his way, but they were much more resilient than the any of the other Heartless Sora had run across yet. He stopped to fight them off, but it took several hits to eliminate his enemies, and by the time he did, the Soldiers—it seemed an appropriate name for them—behind him had caught up to him.

They were a little harder to predict than their cat-like brethren, but Sora was finally able to determine how they lined up their attacks. Unlike the other Heartless, these Soldiers didn't seem to work together very well, they just did their own thing whenever they felt like it, which Sora used to his advantage to destroy one Heartless before moving on to the next one. There were several times when a Soldier would hit Sora from behind in a pirouetting kick move that closed the massive range between the two of them.

Eventually, Sora fought through to the last one and ran through the doors to the First District.

Sora but his back to a wall on the opposite side of the doors and slowly slid to the ground. Even with all the people to spar with on the islands, Sora had never fought so many…things for that extended amount of time.

Before he knew it, he drifted off into a dreamless sleep…

Riku awoke to the sound of massive amounts of water…falling? He hurt all over, even the simple motion of moving his arm under him to push himself off the rough-hewn stone he was apparently laying on.

"Ugh..," Riku said with a dry throat as he tried to crack his eyes open, "Where am I?"

"Hollow Bastion," a familiar deep voice said, "Are you alright? The Corridors of Darkness are not for the ill of heart."

"I'll live," Riku stumbled up as he looked up at the man he had waited on the fucking prison for so long to see once more, "Ansem."

Ansem smiled, a gesture that made Riku's heart do figure-eights in his chest, "Very well. I'm sorry I could not port us within the castle, but there are no true havens within, and first impressions are everything."

Riku almost didn't hear him as he realized that the sound was water falling…up. They were in a trench of rising water standing on one of many floating crags of stone that led up to an arch of sorts. In the distance was the largest castle Riku ever saw, a behemoth of stone riddled with machinations and pipes of unknown origins or purposes. High up, almost obscured by the mist, steam, and clouds was an emblem of epic proportions, although Riku couldn't quite make it out.

Then what Ansem said was processed by his mind, "Wait, 'first impressions'? Am I meeting other people?"

"Yes," Ansem smiled, "Some associates of mine. They may act like friends, but don't let that deceive you. I guarantee they are all attempting to outwit the others and claim the ultimate prize for themselves."

"Prize?" Riku asked as Ansem glided up the rising falls to the arch, forcing Riku to keep pace via the floating stones, "What prize is that?"

Ansem didn't turn, but Riku still heard his answer, "Kingdom Hearts."

~Discussion-END~

**Alright! All the canon's out of the way for now, and I can work on that Lemon I've been planning on so long next chapter. (Urgh, about time! If Leon didn't have that bloody flashback…! *starts beating him with a stick*)**

…**Anyways…**

**I'm also hoping to stick more characters in next chapter, and soon I'll be wrapping up the TTArc! And then I can start on Wonderland, yay! XD**

**I was kind of hoping to make a St. Patrick's Day tribute, but there's no way I'll finish it in time now…Well, finish a well written story before then, so what I'm going to do is write it now and I'll upload it next year…if we're still around XD**

**Better hope them Mayans were wrong, otherwise you'll probably never learn the end of this story XD**

**Sayonara, ningens! KHVeteran, out!**


	10. TT Arc: Intrusion

**Good Evening, this is KHVeteran**

**I'm sorry, ya'll...Life slapped me upside the head with lemons starting last April, and didn't really stop 'til a few days ago-not to mention that I didn't completely know how to make out the "notice" from Fanfic detailing their decision to "delete" all "MA-rated fanfics"...since they haven't followed through, I s'pose that s'kay to upload this chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

~Traverse Town Arc: Chapter 8: Intrusion~

Sora awoke from his dreamless stupor, thinking for a moment that the events of the last several hours were nothing but a dream, and that any moment now his mother would walk through the door and ask him why he fell asleep sitting up. But then he opened his eyes and saw the familiar Traverse Town cobblestones.

He almost cried then, but he forced himself up the wall and shook the last vestiges of sleep from his mind. _This is my reality, now_, Sora thought, _so I'm just going to suck it up and deal with it._

Sora looked around, but didn't see anyone within the immediate vicinity. Wandering down the courtyard, Sora noticed Allei wiping down tables. He was about to walk her way when a snide voice halted him in his tracks, "So I finally get to meet Traverse Town's newest player."

Sora turned to see a tall man with long brown hair in an expensive-looking, dark pearl-snap shirt, leather jacket and pants strutting his way. The way he moved, everything from how the snakeskin shoes struck the cobblestones to how he shifted his massive white-rimmed shades farther up his face with his first two fingers, sent bad vibes through Sora. And judging from the way the man was smirking smugly, there was only one thing that he was here for: trouble.

Sora thought about saying "What do you want?" but the last thing he wanted right now was to make another enemy. Instead, he settled for "Who are you?"

"Megumi Kitaniji," the man smiled, "Mayor of Traverse Town."

_How can a shady guy like this be a mayor?_ Sora wondered briefly, but then an image of the mayor of Destiny Islands sprung to mind. "Really? Is there a reason you stopped me? Because I'm trying to find Leon…"

"Yes," Megumi's smile didn't quite reach his eyes, "I was going to throw you out of my city, but our...mutual friend convinced me otherwise."

"What?" Sora exclaimed, "Why?"

"Because ever since you got here, the Heartless have been acting out more than usual. It's not all that hard to put two and two together, especially when that accursed weapon's involved. However, since Leon was kind enough to advocate for your innocence, I'll let the last little incident slide.

"But," Megumi lowered his shades a tad to look directly at Sora, who broke into a cold sweat as he stared back into the menacing red snake eyes, "If so much as a single Heartless appears in First District again, I'll hold you personally responsible."

Megumi bended over to whisper the last few words into Sora's ear, "And if you dare to show up in my territory again after that, player, we'll be playing for keeps."

And with that, the mayor walked off, and Sora felt a chilling wind as he went by.

By the time Sora turned around, he was gone. He vowed never to cross paths with the mayor ever again.

Walking towards the restaurant, Sora never noticed that Yuffie had strode up next to him until she spoke up, scaring the wits out of the key-brandishing youth, "I see you met Shades."

"Don't-!" Sora jumped, "Scare me like that," he finished lamely, realizing only after the fact that he had summoned his Keyblade instinctively.

Yuffie only laughed, "It doesn't work on Leon anymore, so I have to find other people to surprise."

"Speaking of whom, where is he?" Sora asked, Keyblade vanishing to wherever it went when he put it up, "I have half a mind to kick his ass after leaving me to fight every damn Heartless in Second District all by myself."

"Ha, you need the practice," Yuffie punched him playfully. "Besides, I don't know where he is either. I've been looking for him ever since we split up."

"I was going to ask Allei," Sora jerked his thumb over shoulder in the general direction of said woman.

"I asked her earlier, but maybe she's seen him since then." There was an odd tone in Yuffie's voice that Sora couldn't place. "Yeah," he replied, "Let's go ask her."

He turned around to walk to the waitress, Yuffie falling into step behind him.

Yuffie slowed her steps to let Sora pull ahead of her. Once she figured he was far enough ahead of her, Yuffie slipped back into the shadows—not an easy feat in the well-lit courtyard. Truth was, she'd already asked Allei about Leon, and received her answer. But years of performing investigations with Leon presented her with many opportunities to hone her lie detecting skills, and Allei was drowning in the red.

As much as she'd like to find out what Allei knew, Yuffie did not want to resort to the techniques common to her interrogations. And so, she had to resort to an alternate means of intelligence gathering. Sure, it took more time, but Yuffie learned patience long ago and she was beginning to like the idea of not getting her hands dirty.

Hiding outside of Allei's and Sora's lines of sight-but still within earshot—Yuffie closed her eyes and listened as Sora approached Allei, the sound of his footsteps changing from the clack-clack of the cobblestones to the click-click of the bricks that made up the patio of the outdoor restaurant.

"Hey, Allei," Sora greeted the woman Yuffie had once thought was her friend.

"Hi, Sora," Allei responded. Judging from the way her voice was muffled, Yuffie guessed that she was facing away from him. "If you're here for some more hot chocolate, you'll have to wait. Boss man's got me on cleaning duty."

_For the last hour and a half_, Yuffie thought spitefully. She might not have worked as a waitress at any point in her very eventful, young life, but she knew for a fact that it did not take that fucking long to polish the same damn table.

"No thanks," Sora said, "I was just wondering if you'd seen Leon."

"He's…in the kitchen, having a very private conversation with Aerith." Yuffie's eyes snapped open, and before her brain could register the thought, _"I knew it,"_ she had already scaled the side of the café and was climbing somewhat ungracefully over the second-floor balcony.

"I suggest you wait out here for him," Yuffie heard Allei finish as she quickly tested and picked the locked door.

She had just successfully pried it open when she heard Sora calling for her. _Shit, cover's blown,_ Yuffie cursed mentally. But then again, she had a five-second head start.

That was more than long enough for the last surviving ninja of Wutai.

Sora raced through the restaurant's immense kitchen, trying his best to keep up with Allei – who had run into the building as soon as Sora mentioned Yuffie's name. And Sora didn't think that was a coincidence, _she used me! That_—(he restrained himself from using several decidedly impolite terms_)-! She knew Allei was hiding something!_

"Some ally," he grumbled.

Suddenly, a Yuffie-colored blur came from around the corner and shoved him into the wall. Wincing from the pain, he barely missed Leon running after her, calling her to stop so he could explain.

_When did this turn into one of mom's soap operas?_ Sora's humor side kicked in when his sarcasm didn't.

Grumbling something not so nice about the two, and dreading what he was about to stick his nose into, Sora trudged on to see what had gotten Yuffie so worked up.

Leon looked up at the roofing tiles Yuffie had disappeared behind that lay upon the massive bailey that separated Districts One and Three, and sighed. This was exactly what he had been afraid of. But there was little he could do to salvage their friendship at the moment.

During their travels, he had come to realize how she saw him and he had tried to tell her several times that he wasn't interested in her in that way, but the young, hyperactive ninja just didn't know when to take a hint.

He sighed again, running his hand through his long hair, the past hour or so running through his head.

_He and Aerith had met up in their usual nook in the restaurant's kitchen._

"_What took you so long?" Leon embraced Aerith, "I was getting worried."_

"_It would take more than a few Heartless to be the end of me," Aerith replied after planting a quick, gentle kiss on his lips._

"_You have no idea how much I've missed you." Leon said in between the kisses he placed on her smooth skin, each one lower than the last, "Missed this. All those years, travelling Zero District and beyond, training Yuffie…it's been torture."_

"_I can tell," Aerith half-chuckled, half-gasped as Leon's lips grazed the skin just above the hem of her dress, "Speaking of Yuffie, I think she's begun to suspect—ah! You have to tell her, and…soon."_

"_I know," Leon sighed above her exposed chest, the cool breeze making her wet nipples become erect, "But no matter how I play it out in my mind, she always throws a tantrum and runs off."_

"_She's only a child, Leon…," Aerith gripped Leon's head from continuing his teasing so she could make her point, "She'll get over it."_

_Leon let the conversation drop after that, licking and sucking her breasts. But as aroused as he was, he was getting very impatient with foreplay. So impatient, that he accidentally clipped Aerith's nipple with his teeth, resulting in a very high-pitched feminine cry from her._

_Which flipped Leon's sadist switch._

_In a sudden, aggressive move, Leon picked Aerith up and pinned her to the wall—one hand between her legs and the other gripping her shoulder._

"_Leon, what-"_

"_Just shut up and kiss me," Leon said before kissing her so deeply, he soon lost track of who was trying to suck the other's face off._

_Somewhere along the line he had managed to stick two of his fingers into Aerith's mound, tickling her G-spot with extreme prejudice, causing her to moan even louder around their locked lips, neither of them coming up except to gasp for fresh air._

_After several minutes that felt like hours, she began to tighten up around his fingers. Sparing a momentary glance down, he saw that she had started stimulating her clit in quick, jerking circles. Feeling a pang of guilt, Leon nevertheless continued, scissoring his fingers until he felt Aerith's orgasm dribble onto his palm._

_Shoving him away from her, Aerith gave Leon a wicked grin, "My turn, lover boy!"_

_Wasting not a single moment, she pulled Leon's pants down as if they were made for a stripper, and pulled him down to the floor, "You're not the only one who can play the domination game!"_

_She swallowed and deepthroated Leon without so much as a single tear, using her other hand to pump in a semi-circular motion. Leon gasped and tried to grip the tile floor, "The hell you learn that?!"_

_Aerith only smiled. Leon made a note to himself that he would have to ask that later._

_Even as much as he masturbated, Leon wasn't used to an assault like this, and it only got worse when she started toying with his balls. It wasn't long before all the aggressiveness of his previous sadistic attitude melted away into bliss. He felt himself nearing his orgasm, and tried to warn Aerith, but she must have gathered as much and promptly sat down on Leon's dick._

_After a loud moan from Aerith, and much twitching from Leon's member, Aerith began to rock her hips, so that Leon's tip was being teased by her G-spot. As pleasurable as that was, it wasn't anything compared to Aerith's previous assault, and Leon found his old impatience returning._

_He shifted his weight suddenly, throwing Aerith off guard, as she switched into a position in which he had more power. Grabbing her legs so that they formed a V, he plunged himself into her, ramming his member into her with excessive force. In all their years in this relationship, Leon had never heard head Aerith moan so loud._

_But she somehow got the best of him, and got locked into a scissoring position. She laughed as Leon groaned from both pleasure and frustration._

_And thus they began a battle of domination, each one trying to subvert the other, until Leon finally pinned Aerith into doggy style with her face plastered against the table. With so much of their time spent fighting, it was a while before Leon finally was able to pour his seed into her in a loud orgasm that could've rattled the roof._

_Pulling out (a motion that caused him to gasp heavily from the sensation given off by his sensitive penis), Aerith turned to face him, and the proclamations of love would've soon spouted from their lips if a certain teenage ninja had chosen at that time to open the door._

The memory of the hurt in her eyes, the single tear racing down her cheek, the way her hand shook as she attempted to throw a shuriken at him. It was a thousand times worse than what Leon had been expecting.

"Leon?" Allei's tentative voice asked. He wasn't sure if that tone carried the message of "Are you okay?" or "You deserved it." Maybe it was both.

"I'll be fine," Leon lied, "I just hope Yuffie sees fit to forgive me."

Sora knew he shouldn't stare, but he couldn't pull his eyes away. It was just that he had never seen a woman as exposed as Aerith was before—her breasts hanging out of her half-buttoned shirt and some white substance leaking from her…down there.

And it appeared the woman was as embarrassed as Sora was.

Finally it was an older man's voice that broke the awkward silence, "I thought I told you two that you could not fuck in here! Seriously, go rent a room! Do you know how much one of those tables costs me?"

Sora turned around to see a tall man in a bartender's outfit with black hair and a three-day shadow. Sora couldn't see his eyes from around his wire-rim shades, but after his run-in with Shades, he wasn't sure he wanted to. Although Sora normally associated people with the bed-head, unshaven look with the douchebag crowd, this man actually managed to pull it off as "cool".

"And you, young man, don't you know it's rude to stare? Even if she's baring it out to the entire world."

"Uh, S-sorry," Sora found his voice, even though his face was still running red hot.

"Lemme guess, never saw a woman's parts before?"

Sora shook his head profusely.

"Thought not," the stranger smirked, "Most kids your age see stuff like that and are scarred for life."

"I get it, Mr.H!" The woman protested as she hastened to cover herself, "We won't do it again! There's little point, now the cat's out of the bag!"

The man, Mr. H, obviously, laughed. "Hey kid, what's yer name?"

"S-sora…" He responded, still not over what he just saw.

"I'm Sanae Hanekoma," Mr. H indicated himself, "I'm born on March 3rd, blood type A, a Pisces, a barista, and a big gambler. Beyond that, I ain't telling you anything else 'bout myself."

_What's a barista?_ Sora thought, but before he could ask, Mr. H had returned his attention back to Aerith, "We have rooms available upstairs, by the way. If you're lucky, Aerith, I'll let you use one of them."

And with that, the enigmatic man disappeared back the way he came, leaving Aerith and Sora alone once more.

"So you're the Keyblade Wielder," Aerith's smile didn't quite reach her still-pinkish cheeks, "Be careful. So much depends on you."

"You saying that because you actually care about me? Or are your concerns reserved exclusively for the Keyblade?" Sora simmered.

Aerith seemed kind of shocked at Sora's answer, and then sighed, "Yuffie betrayed your trust, didn't she?"

Sora didn't answer.

"Don't let it get to you. She may not look it, but she's only a little older than you."

"So you're saying that people my age betray others on a regular basis?"

Aerith made an exasperated noise and replied, "No. You're both young, and young people make rash decisions. Just try not to hold it to her too much. If there's anything she needs now, it's a kind heart that will open up to heal her wounds."

Sora snorted and walked off.

"She fancied Leon," Aerith called after him, "But Leon's heart was attracted to mine. Her heart was in denial, and now that the unadulterated truth has been exposed to her, it may have left scars wide enough to let darkness in."

With Aerith's warning ringing in his ears, Sora ventured back out into the chilly Traverse Town night.

Sora wandered over to the table Leon was sitting at, and helped himself to a seat, "Aerith told me it was because Yuffie had a crush on you."

Leon remained silent.

"Then you deserved it," Sora said spitefully.

"Don't take Yuffie's betrayal out on me, Sora," Leon growled, "I was going easy on you last time. Don't force me to fight you for real."

They sat in silence for a moment, neither one breaking the glare that had cropped up between them until Allei smacked them both in the back off the head and telling them to "grow up."

After a beat, Sora finally asked what he had been wanting to say the entire time, "What did you mean by 'finding the leader'?"

"The small fry are just cannon fodder," Leon explained, "If you want to get rid of the Heartless for a while, you find and kill their leader. It's usually big, really big, and it's a tad more intelligent than any of the other Heartless you've ran across so far. Kill the boss, the Heartless back off for a while, and we can make some much-needed improvements to the Town in general."

"Like?"

"Putting wards on the First District Baileys, so we don't have a repeat of earlier tonight."

"You mean, the large swarm of Heartless?"

Leon's silence was his only answer.

"Where do I start looking?"

"The Third District," Leon replied coolly, "It's the only District that hasn't been secured yet."

Sora nodded and ran off, wondering if he was walking into yet another trap that carried the bitter sting of betrayal. There was only one way to find out…

~Intrusion-END~

**Told you guys that Lemon was coming XD**

**I just didn't expect it to be in a flashback, lol. This would've taken place a lot sooner, but several chapters took too long to write out, so I just kept putting it further and further off. And then Leon had to have his flashback….argh! In any case I'm just glad I finally got it done XD**

**Alright, the Traverse Town Arc is nearing it's end! If you guys have liked what I've done with the characters and storyline so far, you're gonna love what I did with Guard Armor! Mwahahahaha!**

**But that's all I'm gonna spoil for you guys for now. All I'm gonna say is that Traverse Town is nothing compared to the rest of the KHNoir Universe. I tried to stay close to the general canon storyline up til now, but this Arc's just the spring board for the rest of the story. XD I'm so excited!**

**Well, I'll be going now. I gotta work on next chapter!**

**May your swords stay sharp!**

**-KHVeteran**


	11. TT Arc: Ascension

**Good Evening, this is KHVeteran.**

**Finally done with this chapter, can't believe it! I felt like I never had a chance to work on this chapter all month!**

**I've also taken up a new method to writing all of my stories, and it's working gloriously! First, I right it all down in a notebook, then I type it up on the computer, editing it as I go along (As opposed to just typing it up). I think it really helps out with fleshing up the kind of story I really wanna write.**

**Anyhoos, this chapter got kind of out of hand. I was looking for something to fill up the journey from First District to the Third, and I came up with something way out of Sora's league. It's kinda gore-y, which is a new thing for me…I've never had to write anything with gore in it before, but I think I did a good job.**

**Well, I hope you guys enjoy!**

~Traverse Town Arc: Chapter 9: Ascension~

Sora slowly made his way over to the stairs leading down into the Second District's main courtyard. The area was still and quiet, yet it also had an aura of apprehension to it. Sora recognized the feeling: every time a big storm or a squall was about to hit his home back on the islands, there was a period of time that all of the grown-ups—his mother in particular—called "the calm before the storm."

Somehow, it fit with what Sora was currently out to accomplish: killing the leader of the Heartless—if beings that ran on pure instinct could even have a "leader." But if what Leon said was true, then the citizens of Traverse Town would have the time necessary to place those all-important seals upon the baileys that would prevent a massive influx of Heartless in the First District from swarming in ever again.

Never again would Sora put innocent people at risk from his mere presence, and thus not have their figurative blood on his hands—or even worse, earning the wrath of the mayor.

Sora suppressed a shudder produced by the thought of that man. Goose bumps rose on his skin, and for a moment he was irritated at himself for letting the guy get at him so much, until he realized that the cause of his shivering wasn't from the bad vibes of an obviously vile individual, but from the sudden and massive drop in temperature.

The drop was so low, in fact, that Sora began to see his breath on the air, and he looked up to see that frost was rapidly spreading upon the cobblestones. It was fascinating and eerie to watch at the same time. Sora was watching the water in the District's fountain slowly freeze up when he felt a presence, which was an entirely new sensation for him. It wasn't the paranoid feeling that someone was watching him, somewhere, somehow-but an assured, definite sense that someone was standing right in front of the cathedral-esque Gizmo Shop.

Sora jolted around to espy a humanoid figure so dark that it was as if all the ambient light surrounding it was being sucked into its very essence. It was hunched over something, gnawing greedily from an object in its hands. Then, with a mighty ripping noise, the creature ripped what appeared to be an opalescent jewel out of the carcass…of a Heartless. He looked on in horror as the feeding Heartless gulped down the object whole and the unmoving monster in its hands shuddered and then was absorbed into its conqueror's body.

That was when the cannibalistic Heartless realized that it had a spectator, and if looks could kill, the pure hate emanating from its eyes would have vaporized Sora. It got up, and Sora felt a wave of cold energy so fierce that his legs threatened to give out from under him. An alarm shouted into the part of Sora's mind that was still occupied by rational thought to RUN.

But as much as he wanted to, he could only watch as the familiar-looking Heartless summoned and unsheathed two black and pitted katanas. It then bent back in an almost inhumane angle and screamed its challenge to the heavens—and one by one, each of the twinkling lights disappeared from the lofty firmament as a pall of darkness descended upon them both. Apparently satisfied, the monster snapped into what Wakka would call a "three-point stance" in blitzball, and charged at Sora—becoming almost a blur as it did so. In a futile gesture to block the impending assault, Sora finally managed to get his facilities in order and summon his Keyblade.

He might as well have been blocking with a humongous block of cheese for all the good it did him. The Heartless used its frightening speed to get under Sora's guard and slashed deep into his stomach as it used its spare sword to rip the Keyblade out of Sora's grip, and he screamed as his arm dislocated and shattered in several places. The force from the attacks flung him into the opposing wall, causing his cries to be cut short from the sudden expulsion of air, and he heard something to break-judging from the sound, Sora was pretty sure that it was the wall.

He then proceeded to slide sickeningly down the wall until he slipped into the pool of cold water. Despite the lack of light the water reflected the absent glow, throwing into sharp relief the cresting waves his descent caused. As he looked on, Sora spotted dark objects floating in the water. He fought back the bile threatening to expel itself from his mouth as some part in the rearmost recesses of his mind registered that the rising flotsam once belonged inside his body. A cold began to creep up his body from his extremities, and Sora forced his eyes away from the refuse bobbing morbidly in the water.

The creature screamed again, this time in triumph, and as much as Sora wanted to get up and kick this thing's ass, he could not summon the strength to stand, much less deliver. With his guts floating in the ice cold water, his sword arm broken, and coughing up his lifeblood in rattling, painful gasps, Sora grudgingly agree with the Heartless's sentiments. The only reason he wasn't dead already was because all of his injuries weren't meant to kill him. It was as if the thing had wanted to show Sora just how out of his league he was by trying to fight that monstrosity. But Sora refused to be cowed, not in his final moments.

He glared into the Heartless's moon-lit eyes and refused every notion his body tried to send him about simply closing his eyes and going to sleep. He watched with an odd sense of detachment as the thing rose its weapon up, up, up…and then its face was slammed into the ground just as it was about to deliver the final blow.

Sora blinked profusely as light suddenly exploded back into existence, and dimly heard a gruff voice growling over the din the Heartless was making, "You were always such a showing-off loud mouth, brother!"

The creature responded by tossing the greasy black-haired man high into the air, and screeched as it watched him slam into a pile of crates piled on top of the Gizmo Shop. The creature turned to consider Sora again, but was again interrupted—this time by a missile salvo to the face.

There was a series of mad cackles above and to left of Sora, "O King?! How could thou be eaten by something as feeble as a shadow?"

Sora felt himself being lifted out of the water—though, for a minute he thought he was finally slipping away until he realized that he was then moving off to the side of the District's courtyard.

Though it was nice to finally be out of the water, Sora began to feel a cold numbness creeping up his limbs and he had to fight just to see through the darkness clouding his vision. He saw two shadowed figures, one was yelling something to the other but Sora couldn't tell what. It was now a struggle just to hold his head up.

He focused on the sky above, the buildings melting away to reveal only the spangled canvas that made up the heavens. _Riku and Kairi are both out there somewhere, and I haven't even had the opportunity to really look for them yet._ The thought of failure was his only thought as the sky rushed up to meet him…

There was a blinding light and…-

Sora gasped and then choked out a series of rasping coughs.

"You see?" said a deep man's voice, as if in a wounded response to someone, "Destiny will not allow this child to die."

"Arby, I could kill you!" The masked, silver-haired woman holding Sora snapped over the loud din of epic warfare.

The man lifted his glowing palm from Sora's chest, "As I mentioned before, we were too late last time because his soul has vacated his body. That's why I opted to use my powers to bring us back to moment of his demise."

"That and it was the last known location of my father's Heartless!"

"Unlike you and your 'allies', Akima, I prioritize my duties—and the mission comes first."

Sora, who had been listening to this argument through a euphoric haze, finally registered having heard the word "Heartless" and all of the memories from his past life flashed before his eyes and he jumped from the woman's arms and scrambled to check his stomach.

Underneath his shirt he felt—nothing, not even a scratch or scar to mark the event of being eviscerated. Not only that, but he'd used both arms to check—proving that his sword arm had been both relocated and unbroken.

And yet, the memory was still there.

All the confusion and anxiety made its way to his stomach, and Sora couldn't keep it down.

The man came over and patted him on the back, chuckling softly as he did so, "First time's always the most unsettling. Don't worry; I've come to understand that it's a natural reaction to having your time altered."

Sora looked up to see his rescuer's face. He was black and was missing his left arm from mid-upper arm. He was clad in a white sleeveless tunic and hakama. What little Sora saw of his skin was covered in scars, one of which traveled from the top of his shaved head to the bottom of his chin and ran through a blinded eye in the process.

"You reversed my…time?"

"Yes, and if I could have erased your memories, I would, if only to save you from the trauma of the horrors inflicted upon you."

The woman stepped up, her mask dissipated—only to reappear on the tassel hanging from her rapier's hilt—as she did so, "I'm Akima, and this is Rebirth—R.B. for short. You might hear some of the others refer to me as "Princess," but you can ignore them. I turned down that path long ago."

She was tall, lithe, and beautiful. She didn't have any particular part of her body that made her stand out, rather it was as if looking at her body was like analyzing a work of art: it was the combination of elemental techniques working together to make a masterpiece.

Akima caught him looking and raised a single eyebrow. Sora flushed and looked away, his mind full of embarrassing thoughts he wished would go away.

Rebirth had a bemused grin on his face as he stared pointedly at Akima, who in turn gave him a death glare.

"I gotta get going," Sora said nervously.

Rebirth nodded, "Yes, its best that you leave now, if not then I'm afraid that your friend…Yuffie, was it? Yes, her. If she's left to her own devices, she will be consumed by the darkness."

"She's not really my friend, but…I'll do what I can!"

The odd boy ran off without any further ado.

Rebirth was still smiling, "It appears you have a new admirer, Akima."

"Aw, stick it where it fits!" Akima flipped him off, "Will we have to save his pathetic ass again?"

Rebirth's blinded eye moved, as if tracking an invisible target, "Doubtful, unless he encounters your father again sometime in the near future. As long as we keep his Heartless busy, we need not hold his hand."

"Good, I get 'nuff gawkin' from Scorn."

At that moment, the devil of which she spoke of crashed into the cobblestone behind them in a miniature crater. The greasy-haired, unkempt wonder picked himself up and slammed a sliced-off limb back where it belonged. It quickly regenerated back into place.

He looked over and gave Rebirth and Akima one of his trademark scowls, "If yer done lolligaggin', some help would be nice!" he growled before launching himself back into the fray.

The two shared a look and Akima shrugged before running in to join him. Rebirth smiled and ran after.

~Ascension-END~

**Well, you've officially met the Avatars—a bunch of OCs I created who travel to different dimensions to balance the forces of light and darkness (usually the latter).**

**The Avatars in this chapter are all from the same tight-knit group, separate from the other twelve Avatars who went insane a long time ago. Their names're Akima, Scorn, Rebirth, and Madness. There are a couple more in this group, but you'll probably hear of them later *evil laugh while pressing fingers together in a plotting motion***

**I also have a Facebook page now, if you're interested in hearing about any of my other projects that aren't fanfiction.**

**Here's the URL (delete the space): Gaia Chronicle**

**I hope to see some of you there; it'd be great to have a fanbase before I even publish my first book!**

**Next chapter's gonna be fun—I got really neat ideas about how to handle the Boss Fight. And this time, Sora won't have to roll a Will Save he can't beat, lol**

**See ya guys next time!**

**KHVeteran**


	12. TT Arc: Showdown

**Good Evening, and this is KHVeteran.**

**Yikes, 3 months? That's how long it took me to upload this?! I swear time flies when Father Time being a jerk, huh? I swear, he hits the Fast Forward button on my life every time I have college.**

**Well, good news, I'm not going back for a while. Bad news, I'm going to have to work more. So I'll try to find something boring so I have more time to think about my stories, k? ^_^**

**Anyhoos, I yak at you some more when you're finished reading. See ya there!**

**PS, finally found an appropriate cover, hope ya'll like it!**

~Traverse Town Arc: Chapter 10: Showdown~

Sora made it into Third District for about five steps before his mind had finally stopped being fuzzy and disjointed. When he realized what he had done back there in the Second District's alley, he facepalmed hard.

_What am I doing?_ He growled to himself, _I did it again! I trusted a complete and total stranger!_ Although he had no reason not to in the past, due to the fact that his entire island nation had been marooned there for the better half of a millennium, Sora suspected that his people's tendency to assume the best in people was going to become a problem in the future. Sure, those people back there saved his life, but for all he knew, that only proved that at the very least he was a valuable tool.

But no matter how Sora sliced it, all of the signs pointed to the same place: the leader. The sooner he killed it, the sooner he could sort out his priorities. Hoping he wasn't running into another ambush, he ran down the stairs that ran down to the courtyard of Third District.

Goofy looked over the balcony, but didn't see anything other than an abandoned house. Goofy raised his eyebrow with suspicion at its darkened windows. He could've sworn that he had heard something as he had exited from a somewhat secret passage that spanned from a rooftop in Second District to this balcony.

As he scratched at his dark-furred jowls, he heard another sound, barely audible over Donald's incessant ranting. A deep, distorted sound that was somehow reminiscent of rippling water and tearing fabric at the same time.

Grabbing his shield from the ether – the atmospheric presence of magic that existed throughout all worlds – and turned to face whatever it was that had just teleported behind him and Donald.

Squinting to see it in the near twilight of Traverse Town's everlasting night, Goofy tried to identify the thing that now stood before them both (Donald had also turned to face it, summoning his staff). The creature before was small and dark, making its pitch-black skin damn near impossible to see where it was exposed by its midnight blue and royal purple jumpsuit, teardrop-shaped helmet, and fingerless gauntlets. Emblazoned upon its chest, was an emblem that resembled a black-and-red fusion of a heart and a fluer-de-lis that looked as though someone, or something, had scarred its chest, making an X-shaped wound over its exact center. The scars almost appeared to resemble two branches adorned with thorns. It stared at them both with menacing eyes that glowed like a moon's evanescence.

"Gawrsh, y'think these are those Heartless guys?" Goofy asked Donald.

"No doubt about it!" Donald stated as though this were obvious, "Let's get 'em, Goofy!"

Which they would have no doubt done so if Donald's Firaga spell hadn't gone off on the inside of Goofy's shield and exploded.

Sora had made it to the middle of the courtyard when he had heard the explosion behind him. He turned and had just begun to look up when two large objects landed on Sora, causing him to fall over and whack his head against the pavement.

Through the haze of his dizziness and pain, he realized that the hot and slightly charred things on top of him were moving. They were people, Sora realized. One of them was spouting profanities at the other, until they both stopped.

Sora was confused for a moment until he realized that they were both looking at the Keyblade that he had instinctively summoned to his hand. He really had to find out how he could selectively not do that. His vision was still blurred somewhat, so he was surprised when he shoved them both off that he touched fur and feathers.

"You can forget it!" Sora slurred, "This Keyblade's…mine!" he added with another spout of dizziness. He was in no fighting shape, he knew that, but he would be damned before he willingly gave over his only means of finding his friends.

The shorter one pointed some kind of stick at him. Sora braced himself for some kind of magical assault, only to be greeted with a wave of relief and wellness washing over him. He could see them both clearly now. The short guy with feathers for hair and small, stubby fingers he could accept, but the tall guy that looked like a bloodhound furry has a little harder to process.

"Feel better?" the short one asked, and Sora nodded slightly. This one talked kind of funny, it was like a mix of human vocals and the quacking of a duck. His teeth were also a kind of burnt orange color. Sora was fairly certain that orange teeth weren't normal.

"Sorry, we fell on ya," spoke the bloodhound looking one, his words accented with a click on every syllable, "It was an accident."

Sora nodded again, and the shorter one whispered something to the other guy, who in turn said something out the corner of his mouth that Sora couldn't hear.

Sora felt his familiar anger returning, "If you're gonna talk behind my back, at least do it when I'm facing the other way!"

The tall one chuckled gruffly, "See, Donald, I told you he only needed a second to adjust to our appearance."

"Yeah, whatever Goofy," the one called Donald crossed his arms. Sora noticed his fingers were almost completely hidden when they were crossed like that.

"No offense," Sora started, "But this isn't the best time for you guys to fall on my head and make my life even more confusing than it already is."

"Then we'll make it easy," Donald started to say, but the Goofy interrupted him, "Huh? Where'd she come from?"

Sora spun to where Goofy was looking. It was Yuffie! She was standing in front of the fountain; her back was turned to them, head down and hugging herself. Despite hating her for using him, Sora had been trying to put himself in her perspective. He knew how she might be feeling, seeing as Sora had been holding a crush on Kairi for as long as he could remember.

"Hold that thought," he absent-mindedly told Donald and ran over to her.

He had only gotten within twenty feet of her when she yelled, "Don't come any closer!"

Despite wanting to get closer, Sora stopped, "Yuffie, please! I want to help you!"

"Help me?" Yuffie laughed spitefully, "How do you expect to do that? You don't know anything about me!"

"Maybe not," Sora said gently, "But I have heard some things about you. I know you spent years training with L—with, uh, him." Sora didn't think it would be wise to say Leon's name at the moment.

But even bringing up Leon indirectly seemed to have set Yuffie off. She screamed incoherently and tossed a large purple thing at him. Sora only barely managed to block it because of Yuffie's emotional state and the fact that he already had the Keyblade summoned.

"I don't want to talk about him!" She cried angrily, tears flying off her face.

"I know what it's like to have a crush on someone and not being able to approach them!" Sora pleaded, "Please, Yuffie, let me – "

"NO!" Yuffie yelled and summoned a five-pointed purple-and-yellow shuriken to her hand. An intense force of sorts flew from her, making it difficult for Sora to stand. When Sora looked up again, Yuffie had a visible aura of darkness around her.

Shit, Sora groaned but audibly and mentally, looks like I'm about to enter another fight.

Even as he thought this, Yuffie threw her shuriken at him. He brought up his Keyblade to block it. But he realized even in mid-swing that he was too slow. It hit him in the shoulder and bounced high up into the air.

The force from the blow caused him to step back, and he instinctively used a hand to check his shoulder. He brought it back and was surprised not to see any blood.

He looked back up, but Yuffie was gone. Sora looked all around him, but couldn't see her anywhere. Just as he was thinking that she had run off again, there was a poof of smoke right next to him.

Sora coughed out as he had breathed in instinctively. He heard a clang of metal on metal. Sora looked up and saw that Goofy had interceded with his shield.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you never to take your eyes off of the enemy?" he growled. Despite only having known Goofy for a manner of minutes, Sora felt somewhat chastised. Riku had told him the same thing once, but Sora had been too aggravated to listen.

"Sorry," Sora said weakly, his throat still burning from the smoke.

"Don't apologize. Do," Goofy pulled Sora off the ground. Sora hadn't even realized he had fallen over.

"Goofy!" Donald warned, but Goofy was one step ahead of him. Yuffie had teleported in, slashing repeatedly and teleporting to another location adjacent to Goofy with each hit. Goofy still managed to block every hit each time with his shield, not even looking when Yuffie teleported where he couldn't see her.

She launched herself high into the air after the last hit and threw her shuriken at Sora. But this time, Sora was ready. He swung his Keyblade, hitting the shuriken right back at Yuffie. She caught it, spun, and threw it at Donald.

Donald raised his staff, reflecting her attack back at her again. This time, the shuriken's blade hit her in her midriff. She grunted and fell to ground.

Yuffie rolled back, shuriken back in her hand. She stood and screamed, the dark aura about her growing. She glared at Sora, shuriken raised behind her. Sora readied himself for the onslaught.

But it never came. Something fell from the sky and landed on her. Sora covered his face from the dust, and when it had settled Sora lowered his arms and blanched at what he saw.

A full suit of purple, spiked armor had landed on top of Yuffie, her head driven into a mini-crater in the concrete. The dark aura had dissipated, and a pool of blood seeped from her body.

Sora directed his attention to the heartless. The heart and fluer-de-lis combo was embossed upon its chestplate, with the thorned X scratched through it. Its visor was closed, and its red plume flowed from a nonexistent wind. It brought itself slowly to its full height and turned to face Sora. It was no taller than a full-grown adult, but Sora felt its dark power pouring from it in waves. There was no doubt in his mind. This was the boss.

There was a sound like a shotgun blast and the next thing Sora knew, he had slammed into the wall behind him. His chest throbbed with pain as he slid off the vertical surface. It was an effort just to breathe. The armor pulled its arm back in and was knocked back slightly by the action. It then leapt high into the air, the leg that it jumped with extending, leaving an individual piece of armor behind at somewhat regular intervals connected only with a tendril of dark energy. It brought all of its pieces back in, and used the added motion to flip and dive toward Sora's current location. Sora scrambled on all fours to get away, and was blasted away by its landing shockwave.

A silhouette rose in the dust. Its head twitched towards Sora. Sora got up as quick as he could. The armor raised one arm and drew it back. Sora charged it, yelling with all its might. If the heartless was surprised by this move, it didn't show. The armor followed through, and its arm extended again. Sora deflected the blow, which had been aimed for his head and was surprised when his Keyblade slipped through the expanding gap of its arm and cut the tendril within.

All the extended armor clattered to the ground behind Sora, and the heartless gave out a kind of shriek. Sora briefly wondered if it was in pain.

But there was no time for such thoughts now. Sora was within striking range of the creature. He swung at it, metal clanging upon metal with each strike. Wherever the Keyblade struck, it dented the armor. Sora focused all of his attacks on the torso and head, striking the arms and legs only when they got in his way.

The armor spun its whole torso, expanding its arm as far as it could go. Sora ducked and raised his Keyblade straight up, severing its second arm right at where its elbow might have been. Pieces of the Heartless rained down everywhere around Sora and it shrieked again. Sora saw its legs extend slightly, and he took his chance. The Heartless had been taken down at the hip, but it still hung in midair.

It made a different sound now, somewhere between a distorted sob and the growl of a wounded predator. Chainmail extended past where Sora had cut, ending with sharp barbs no larger than a pocket knife. It spun, and the chainmail skirt turned into a deadly saw blade. Sora found that he had been caught off guard and unable to breathe. He choked, tasting blood. Somehow he knew without checking that this thing had slit his throat.

_Am I about to die?_ Sora wondered, before trying to laugh. _Again? How many times has anyone ever said that?_ His knees shook and were about to give out. But then a familiar sensation had flowed over him, and he could breathe freely once more. He took the sudden return of energy and used it to make a strategic retreat from the heartless in order to gather his wits and breath.

"Are you okay?" Donald said from beside him. Sora jumped, he had totally forgotten that he and Goofy were still here.

"Bastard slit my throat," Sora gasped.

"Good thing I healed you, then."

"We need to come up with a strategy," Sora said, "I was able to cut off its limbs through instinct alone, but that buzz saw thing's gonna require more thought."

"Sounds like you could use our help," Goofy said from Sora's opposite side.

"So, what can you guys do?" Sora asked while keeping a close eye on the Heartless. Despite its deadly new form, it looked like it was nearly beaten. It hovered there, as though it were recuperating as well. A black, viscous fluid ran down the places Sora had cut it off its limbs and from whatever holes he had managed to beat into the Heartless's armor.

"I'm really good at physical confrontation," Goofy told Sora, "But I think Donald's the one who's going to be a real help right now."

"How's that?" Sora frowned.

"He can use magic." Goofy smiled grimly.

"What kind of magic?" Sora hurriedly asked Donald.

Donald shot Sora a wicked smile, "All kinds."

"Can you stop it from moving?" Sora asked, "Immobilize it somehow?"

"Normally I'd stop its time," Donald frowned thoughtfully, "But big bad guys like this are normally immune to that, probably too powerful for a binding spell, too."

"Well, come up with something quick," Sora told him, "'Cause here it comes!"

The Heartless charged Sora but he leapt swiftly out of its way. Donald yelled something and a series of glowing orbs zoomed in on the heartless, each one exploding with a bright flash of light whenever they came within proximity. Sora used the opportunity to take a swing at it, but it spun and Goofy interceded with his shield.

"We gotta blind it!" Sora yelled as loud as he could in order to be heard over the din of battle.

Donald pointed his staff at the armor and yelled something that Sora couldn't hear. A wad of black webbing shot out of Donald's staff and hit the Heartless's visor spot on. It roared and flew at Donald. Donald sidestepped it and the heartless flew headlong into the wall.

Sora smiled and charged the heartless, but it had started spinning again. Sora leapt away. He waited for it to stop spinning, but it never did. It spun around and around bouncing from wall to wall like a pinball machine.

_I'll never hit it from the ground while it's like this_, Sora realized during his third near-miss with those deadly blades. _If only there was a way to hit it from the air…_

Then Sora had a brilliant idea. He ran at Goofy, yelling, "Give me a boost!"

Goofy seemed to understand what Sora was thinking. He ran over so that he was directly in between Sora and the Heartless, and flipped his shield over to where it was parallel to the ground, low enough for Sora to jump onto.

Sora leapt up onto the shield, and Goofy launched him into the air. Sora shifted so that his Keyblade was at the fulcrum of his fall and directed himself to the Heartless.

For a terrifying second, Sora thought he was going to miss, but the Keyblade punctured the weak point between where the helmet and torso met, and slid with a grinding noise all the way into the hilt. Sora managed to hang on until the Heartless suddenly stopped, throwing him off.

Sora expected to have landed on the ground, but apparently he had been caught by Goofy. But then, for whatever reason, they both fell on the ground. Sora grunted and got up, summoning his Keyblade and preparing to charge straight back into battle. But he stopped when he saw that the Heartless was acting strangely. It was shaking violently and appeared to be collapsing upon itself.

The torso already vaguely resembled something similar to a beach ball and the helmet, which was now missing its plume, had been squashed like a top hat. It continued to collapse upon itself more and more, until it finally began to glow and take up the form of a heart. When it had finished, the Heartless was no more and the heart it had collapsed into was floating slowly towards the sky.

They stood there for a few minutes, staring into the night sky until long after the heart had vanished from view. Then Sora suddenly remembered, "Yuffie!"

"Relax," said a familiar voice.

Sora turned around to see Leon, and behind him was Aerith. She appeared to be using some kind of healing magic on Yuffie.

"It wasn't anything too serious," Leon continued, "Just a minor head injury. Aerith will have her fixed up in no time."

"It didn't look minor to me," Sora frowned.

To that Leon just crossed his arms.

"Why did it go after her first anyways?" Sora asked him, "I thought I was the Heartless's target!"

"Her dark emotions summoned it," Leon replied as though he were talking about the weather, "In the end, it's what the heartless are drawn to. Although you wield the Keyblade, your heart is full of light. The heartless aren't concerned about that."

"Because they're guided by instinct?" Sora frowned.

Leon was silent.

Sora frowned.

There was a small "ahem" behind Sora. He turned around to see Donald and Goofy.

"Now, before I was rudely interrupted," Donald said as though the Heartless were nothing but a small distraction, "I was about to tell you why we're here."

Far, far away from Traverse Town, a dark council met to observe the fledgling Keyblade Wielder's recent victory. They called themselves the Vale of Villains, being the people that were perhaps the most despised on each of their worlds.

And what they had just finished witnessing didn't please them.

"Oh, wow, he killed it!" laughed a high-pitched male, "Please tell me that this is all just a bad joke!"

"At least it's better than one of your jokes, clown," said a young man, "But how in Olympus did he beat it? I thought that Heartless could only be defeated by a magical weapon."

"What did you think the Keyblade is, silly boy?" replied a sultry female's voice. "The Keyblade's power enhances the power of its wielder. I wonder what else it improves?"

"Keep your filthy thoughts to yourself!" replied a man haughtily, "I say we turn him into a Heartless! Finish things here and now!"

"But what of the King's lackeys?" asked a woman who enunciated her words very clearly. "Those bilge rats look like they might cause some trouble themselves."

"Bilge rats?" laughed a voice full of the buzzing and chirping of insects, "That's rich coming from you!"

"How dare ye!"

"Enough," said a commanding voice. The Vale all turned to regard their leader, Maleficent. When her dragonfly wings had settled down once more, she spoke, "The Keyblade has chosen him. Whether he'll be the one to conquer the darkness, or if he is fated to be swallowed by it, he could be useful."

Something then caught her attention from the far end of the Chapel, "Now if you all don't mind, it appears that I have guests to entertain."

Each of the Vale vanished with a flash of shadow, back to their worlds.

"It's been much too long," Maleficent smiled lustfully at her guest, "Ansem"

"So, you were looking for me?" Sora asked.

"Yep," Goofy said, scratching his chin for the fifth time during the conversation. Sora hoped he didn't have fleas.

"We have a way to travel to other worlds," Donald said, "We could help you look for your friends."

Sora looked up at the stars. Were his friends really on another world? But there were so many! There was no way he'd find them now. He bowed his head in defeat.

"C'mon," Goofy patted Sora's shoulder, "There may be a lot of worlds out there, but if you don't try to find them, then you'll never see them again."

"And, if you come along," Donald added mischievously, "You can't come along looking like that! No frowning, no sad face, okay? This ship runs on happy faces!"

That made Sora smile a little at first, but then that smile got bigger, and eventually he and everyone else was laughing.

"Okay," Sora said when he had caught his breath, "Why not? I'll go with you guys."

"Swear on it?" Donald held his hand out.

"What's yer name?" Goofy asked at almost the same time, putting his hand on Donald's.

"Sora," he grinned, slapping his hand on top.

"All for one, and one for all," Goofy said as though it were one of his lifetime mottos.

For the first time ever since Sora had landed in Traverse Town, he felt as though he had finally found a place where he could belong.

~Showdown-END~

**So many deviations from the original story! Deviations, DEVIATIONS EVERYWHERE!**

**Ahem, anyways, I hope ya'll liked this installment of KHNoir. Next chapter, we'll finally be getting into an Arc I've been looking forward to for a long time: Wonderland.**

**With Traverse Town, I wanted to stay as true to the original world as possible and let the characters make it interesting, but from here on out it'll be a whole new ballpark!**

**Okay, FAQ time with uncle KHVet.**

**Q: what's up with the Heartless's emblem?**

**A: It came to me in the middle of writing this chapter. Describing things have always been somewhat difficult for me, especially stuff that's better described visually. So I beefed up the Heartless symbol to make it both easier to explain and darker-looking.**

**Q: Why Yuffie?**

**A: She brought it on herself. Good thing too, she was about to kill them all before Guard Armor landed on her.**

**Q: What's up with Guard Armor?**

**A: It has never made much since to me that the more powerful something is the bigger it has to be. So I used the Hollows in Bleach as inspiration for this thing. Now, I'm not saying that all of the bosses are going to be smaller, but some of them are going to be the Heartless version of a Vasto Lorde, or even an Acuchas, rather than all of them being strictly Menos.**

**Q: Who are in the Vale of Villains?**

**A: You'll find out :P**

**Now that's out of the way, I'll go ahead and post this. Also, I finally got a short story that'll be published soon! Please find my page on Facebook and support me! (The link is in the previous chapter)**

**Til next chapter, mates! KHVet, out!**

**PCHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**


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